NCJ Number
114541
Date Published
1988
Length
47 pages
Annotation
These two papers describe the circumstances leading to Maryland's shift from an emphasis on large institutions to the increasing use of community-based programs for juvenile corrections and the Florida reforms that were prompted by a Federal lawsuit over abusive practices and unconstitutional conditions of confinement for youths.
Abstract
Maryland closed its Montrose juvenile training school in 1987 and 1988, releasing nearly half the youths to services and supervision in their own homes and most of the others to smaller, nonsecure residential programs. Maryland officials made the changes because they believe that the overwhelming majority of juvenile offenders can be handled as effectively and safely as before through a continuum of community-based programs that provide services ranging from traditional counseling and probation to intensive supervision and offender tracking. Preliminary followup studies indicate that less than 15 percent of the youths released from Montrose have been reincarcerated. Florida was named in 1983 in a class action lawsuit in a alleging that its four training schools violated the constitutional rights of confined juveniles. Factors noted included overcrowding, unacceptable living conditions, lack of security and discipline, inadequate medical and psychological care, cruel use of isolation, inadequate educational and other programming, and inappropriate placements. The consent decree rendered in the lawsuit resulted from negotiations between the plaintiffs and defendants. It specified that the juvenile justice system would confront the need for effective programming; establish a workable assessment, classification, and placement process; stop the overreliance on training school programs except for violent and chronic juvenile offenders; and confront the reality of recidivism of arranging family and substitute care for delinquent youths. Footnotes.