Youth Leadership Academy Boot Camp: An Examination of a Military Model (From Juvenile and Adult Boot Camps, P 119-132, 1996 -- See NCJ-165590)

• NCJ Number: 165597
• Author(s): T H Cornick
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: American Correctional Association
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Steps are outlined to guide the development of correctional boot camps based on the military model.

Abstract

Nine steps are delineated: (1) clearly articulate program goals; (2) provide a leadership model that establishes how clients are to be treated; (3) exercise tight controls over behavior but empower and encourage decisionmaking; (4) provide appropriate training and education for enrollees; (5) offer constant feedback to clients; (6) use confrontation to push for excellence rather than to demean; (7) create extensive new skills; (8) do not allow for failure; and (9) prepare enrollees to function after release. One correctional boot camp based on the military model is the Sergeant Henry Johnson Youth Leadership Academy in upstate New York. The academy serves clients between 14 and 17 years of age and has two program phases. Basic Challenge incorporates fundamentals, while Advanced Challenge promotes skills development. The academy program is based on empowerment and attempts to provide an environment conducive to learning. The family is critical to client rehabilitation, clients are treated as individuals rather than as members of a cohort, and clients are given extensive opportunities to master skills with real applicability to successful living. The academy's skills development program is described.