WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Boot Camps in the Future

Boot camps have developed over the past two decades into a program that incorporates a military regimen to create a structured environment. While some critics of this method of corrections suggest that the confrontational nature of the program is antithetical to treatment, authors Doris Layton MacKenzie and Gaylene Styve Armstrong present research knowledge and personal discussions with community leaders that offer insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial form of corrections. Correctional Boot Camps: Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections? provides the most up-to-date assessment of the major perspectives and issues related to the current state of boot camps. The book goes beyond cursory examinations of the effectiveness of boot camps, presenting an in-depth view of a greater variety of issues. Correctional Boot Camps examines empirical evidence on boot camps drawn from diverse sources including male, female, juvenile, and adult programs from across the nation. The book explores empirical research on both the punitive and rehabilitative components of the boot camp model and the effectiveness of the “tough on crime” aspects of the programs that are often thought of as punishment or retribution, in lieu of a longer sentence in a traditional facility. Thus, offenders earn their way back to the general public more quickly because they have paid their debt to society by being punished in a short-term, but strict, boot camp. Correctional Boot Camps is a comprehensive textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying corrections and juvenile justice. The book is also a valuable resource for correctional professionals interacting with offenders

Private Versus Public Juvenile Correctional Facilities: Do Differences in Environmental Quality Exist?

Expansion in the operation of private sector correctional facilities has sparked a number of debates. A primary concern is that environmental quality for offenders incarcerated in privately operated facilities will be poorer than publicly operated facilities due to the profit motivation of the private sector. This study examined data collected from 48 residential juvenile correctional facilities in 19 states (16 private and 32 public facilities). Self-report surveys, including cognitive assessments of 13 conditions of confinement, were administered to juvenile delinquents (N = 4,121) incarcerated in these facilities. Data from facility records were also incorporated in the analysis. A hierarchical linear model analysis of the juveniles\u27 cognitive assessments indicated that no significant differences between private and public facilities in environmental quality existed

The Human Experiment in Treatment: A Means to the End of Offender Recidivism

This chapter highlights the role that high-quality evaluations, especially randomized experiments, and rigorous techniques of research synthesis (which include high-quality evaluations) have played in recent years in drawing attention to the importance and effectiveness of correctional treatment for offenders as well as the ineffectiveness of many popular “get tough” programs

Boot camps and traditional correctional facilities for juveniles A comparison of the participants, daily activities, and environments

The environments of twenty-seven boot camps and twenty-two traditional facilities were examined in a national study of juvenile correctional facilities. Surveys with administrators and data from institutional files indicated that juveniles in the boot camps had less serious offending histories than did those in traditional facilities. Boot camp environments were more structured and most incorporated military basic training components. There were differences in the use of summary punishments and certain other matters, but few differences were found in therapeutic activities. In general, boot camp juveniles were more active but comparison facilities had more educators and other staff for each juvenile. Juveniles in traditional facilities also had more community contacts. Few institutions had access to any outcome information telling them how and what the juveniles did after release. The potential impact of these differences on the future behavior of juveniles was discussed

Importation and Deprivation Explanations of Juveniles’ Adjustment to Correctional Facilities

Two theoretical explanations, importation and deprivation, are commonly used to explain inmate adjustment to the correctional environment. This study examined the relation- ship of selected importation and deprivation factors on juveniles’ anxiety levels while they were confined to institutions. Self-reported data collected from 3,986 juveniles and aggregate level data collected from interviews with administrators at 48 U.S. correctional facilities were used in a probit regression analysis. Importation and deprivation factors were found to have a significant impact on juveniles’ anxiety levels. Youth who were younger, White, or had a history of exposure to family violence experienced more anxiety. Youth confined to an institution modeled after military boot camps reported higher levels of anxiety. Juveniles who perceived their institution as having less justice and permitting less activity reported more anxiety. Consistent with prior literature, support was provided for a combined theoretical model of importation and deprivation factors for explaining juveniles’ institutional adjustment

Performance-based standards for juvenile corrections

Total quality management (TQM) has revolutionized business, and some of its components can be applied to corrections. The importance of information for developing performance-based standards is obvious. Much more difficult is the process of deciding what information to obtain and how to use it. In the area of juvenile corrections, information about the conditions or environments of juvenile facilities and how these conditions are associated with intermediate and longterm outcomes will be invaluable in developing performance-based standards

The Environment and Working Conditions in Juvenile Boot Camps and Traditional Facilities

This national study of juvenile correctional facilities compared the correctional environments of 25 juvenile boot camps to those of 22 traditional juvenile facilities. Data on perceived environmental conditions for juveniles and work climate for staff, as well as demographic characteristics, were collected from 1,233 juvenile correctional facility staff. While there was some regional variation, in comparison to staff employed in traditional juvenile correctional facilities, boot camp staff perceived the environmental conditions for juveniles as having significantly more activity, control, justice, structure, caring, and therapeutic programming, and believed that their releases were better prepared for the future. Boot staff also perceived their facilities as having less danger for residents and staff, as well as having less general environmental danger and risks to residents. Furthermore, boot camp staff perceived their work climates as generally more favorable than comparison facility staff. In contrast to the opinions of many boot camp critics, these data suggest that the boot camp environment has more of the environmental components suggested by psychological theorists as being necessary for effective correctional treatment

The influences of personal background on perceptions of juvenile correctional environments

This study examined whether the individual characteristics of race, sex, and education affect juvenile correctional staff\u27s perceptions of their work environments. Prior to 1970, correctional staff were minimally educated and predominantly comprised of White males. Correctional reformers believed that employing more female, minority, and highly educated staff members would lead to more efficacious correctional environments. The existing research conducted in adult correctional facilities not only calls this belief into question, but also indicates that the hiring of nontraditional staff may have exacerbated existing internal hostilities. These research efforts uniformly examined adult correctional institutions, however. This study examined these issues in a large national sample of juvenile correctional staff. Results revealed that individual characteristics of juvenile correctional staff do significantly affect perceptions. Contrary to the prior research in adult facilities, the current study found few, if any, manifestations of either racial or sexual hostility in juvenile correctional facilities

The impact of individual, organizational, and environmental attributes on voluntary turnover among juvenile correctional staff members

In this study we assessed the impact of individual employee characteristics, organizational attributes, and quality of the correctional environment on the turnover intentions of juvenile correctional staff members. Both individual characteristics and organizational attributes were significant predictors of turnover intentions. The individual characteristics were age, race, and education; the organizational variables were job satisfaction, stress, and staff support and communication. In general, the organizational attributes were stronger predictors of turnover. Only one variable pertaining to the quality of correctional environment, facility\u27s amount of care toward juveniles, was significantly related to turnover. In contrast to findings of previous research, dangerousness, gender, and tenure were not related to staff turnover. We discuss the implications of these results for correctional staffing