Juvenile Detention and Corrections Standards

Juvenile Detention Standards Juvenile Delinquency Identification The article by Livers & Kehoe (2012) is quite contemporary and that is one of the main themes of the article. The subject of their research lies in the standards of juvenile detention centers and facilities. They focus upon the history of corrections, the history of juvenile corrections, and the history of the standards of juvenile corrections. In American history, the history of juvenile corrections begins in the first quarter of the 20th century.

The American corrections system originated in the 19th century, seeing a great deal of change and evolution during its more than a century of history. Livers & Kehoe discuss the organizations and agencies that influenced the development and philosophy practiced in juvenile detention centers. They plot a clear timeline of juvenile corrections history and provide transparent explanations of the direct contributions made by advocacy & administrative groups to establish, maintain, and constantly revise of the standards practiced in juvenile corrections facilities.

Summary The authors very much want the reader to have a historical awareness of the juvenile correction system and of correctional standards. They begin with a history of corrections overall. They make the point of how initially there was no system of corrections for juveniles in the United States in the early days. An important historical event for Livers & Kehoe is the establishment of the U.S. Children's Bureau.

This was one of the first groups to advocate and publish formal documentation regarding standards for children in court and in corrections, among other areas. (Livers & Kehoe, 2012) Another important group is the Child Welfare League of America. These and other organizations explored and wrote general standards for juvenile corrections. Livers & Kehoe mark 2009 as another huge turning point in juvenile corrections. The American Correctional Association (ACA) published Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Correctional Facilities, 4th Edition. This was the first of several key publications with respect to juvenile correctional standards.

Since the Standards and Guides for the Detention of Children and Youth was developed, several national organizations have discussed, debated and created standards for juvenile justice agencies, including detention and correctional facilities. The ACA/CAC accreditation process offers the most comprehensive standards with a process to measure compliance and the capacity to award accreditation. The ACA Standards Committee serves as the "correctional think tank" to consider and reflect on the promising practices in the field of adult and juvenile detention and corrections standards.

(Livers & Kehoe, 2012, 38) The authors mark this is a big transition because it is a text containing the most up-to-date thinking and practices regarding juvenile corrections. This text introduces concepts of data collection, accreditation, and self-evaluation. There are numerous standards for juvenile corrections. The development of standards for juvenile and adult corrections facilities continues to grow and change. (Livers & Kehoe, 2012) Correctional advocates are concerned with effective rehabilitation of offenders as well as sustaining humane and productive standards as part of the correctional system.

Critique I found this article to be interesting. It was difficult for me to assess the relevance of this subject, though. Maintaining standards and safety in correctional institutions, for adults or for juveniles, is kind of a conundrum. It seems to be evident that there is a great deal of abuse in correctional facilities. This truth makes correctional standards kind of hollow and meaningless. The standards are meaningless unless they are really put into practice.

Additionally, people might be less likely to prescribed strict practices in juvenile corrections because the offenders are children and youth. Despite crimes or alleged crimes committed, they are still children (juveniles). Weaknesses for children may inhibit the correct choices from being made regarding appropriate correction and rehabilitation.

In many respects, it was more difficult to write standards for juvenile corrections than for adult corrections because of the philosophical differences between juvenile justice and juvenile detention and corrections professionals on some of the more critical issues, including the incarceration of status offenders and juveniles in adult facilities. (Livers & Kehoe, 2012, 37) People want to advocate and legalize standards for corrections, but there is plenty of evidence and documentation of systemic abuse of various kinds. Thus, to read.