NCJ Number
79437
Date Published
1981
Length
0 pages
Annotation
In a speech to fellow juvenile justice administrators, Jerome Miller discusses political and social myths that obscure the real issues involved in juvenile justice today.
Abstract
Unfortunately, sometimes the so-called cures employed to reduce or eliminate juvenile delinquency cause more maladies than the original problem. Institutions today have more youth in them than 10 years ago (prior to most diversion programs). The only difference is that now the youth are labeled 'mentally ill' rather than 'delinquent' and are in 'treatment centers' instead of 'correctional facilities.' The real problem is not a lack of resources or staff in the juvenile justice system. Rather, the resources and staff need to be reallocated to the most serious offenders. Research indicates that a successful approach to helping juvenile offenders is to place them in specialized foster care, rather than in institutional or locked settings. The foster parent does not work at another job. Another successful program is the advocacy program in which college students are given credit for spending time with juveniles in leisure activities on a regular basis. Finally, the most basic issue facing juvenile justice administrators today is accountability: how accountability can be built into the system.