Historically the goal of Juvenile Justice is the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders (Steward-Lindsey, 2006). Those that are past the point of rehabilitation or cannot be rehabilitated are referred to adult court. Research has shown that transferring juveniles to adult court actually is a probable cause of recidivism. The juvenile becomes hardened and more criminalized while incarcerated in an adult facility.
All juveniles were tried and sentenced as an adult before the 1800s. Out of growing concern for the juvenile offenders the first juvenile court was formed in 1925. Thus began the Parens Patrie model of justice. The term Parens Patrie comes from English Common Law and means “Parent of the Country” or the State is sovereign and…show more content… Less common were parental family concerns, mental health and substance abuse. Their study also showed there was a 57% gap in between those having high mental health needs who received service and those that did not. There were 14,665 juveniles with high mental health needs and only 8,300 received service. There were 12,682 juveniles that had high substance abuse needs and only 4,100 received substance abuse treatment which means 2/3 received no treatment at all. Not only does the proper risks and needs assessments need to be made at an early stage in the process but close monitoring of juvenile offenders and their progress would be a beneficial way of encouraging program completion and…show more content… (Daniel P Mears and William R. Kelly, 2002)
TYC’s socialization program focuses on correctional therapy, disciplinary training, education and work. TYC’s chemical dependency treatment program is implemented in 5 sites. The main concern is chemical dependency and it focuses on a cognitive/behavioral approach toward treatment. Offenders are referred to the program through diagnoses from a licensed chemical dependency counselor as beds are free.
Mears and Kelly chose 322 juvenile offenders who entered treatment from January – October of 1998 and were discharged by April 1, 1999. These offenders were studied to show the effects of the Chemical Dependency Treatment Program on their delinquent conduct. They examined interviews of site administrators and used the SASSI and Diagnostic and Stastical Manual of Mental Health Disorders to gather data. They discovered that 95% of the youth studied had a high need for substance abuse treatment. The dependent variable in the study was re-arrest for all types of misdemeanor and felony offenses. The independent variables were demographic and risk measures, program performance measures and location of