Juvenile Delinquency

Introduction

In virtually every part of the world, the number of children and young teens engaging in socially unacceptable behavior and delinquency appears to be on the increase. While imprisonment as a strategy of rehabilitating adult criminals is seen as a relatively effective technique of treating adult criminals, the accumulated body of evidence highlight that it is not an appropriate in curbing juvenile delinquency. Imprisoning juveniles has indeed elicited intense criticism, particularly from human rights activists, who not only term it as unconstitutional, but also a breach of child rights.

The U.S. government has instituted several alternatives of handling delinquency amongst minors. Chief among was the boot camps, which are intervention program licensed by the state and instituted with the aim of assisting children who may be experiencing behavioral, academic and psycho-emotional problems (Koch, 2000). Rather than exposing them to further vulnerabilities, juveniles are confined in special camps where they are exposed to counseling, provided with an opportunity to interact with adults and friends, in addition to accessing therapy. As a way of responding to the significant rise in juvenile arrests and recidivism over the past years, a good number of states have established boot camps intended for handling young offenders. However, whether or not the camps have sufficed in meeting the objectives for which they were established remains a controversial subject. Despite the significant success achieved so far, a critical evaluation reveals inherent loopholes which call for scrutiny and remedying.

Juvenile Boot Camps through Time

The concept of juvenile boot camps is a relatively recent invention. The commonly held view is that juvenile boot camps are a modification of the adult criminal justice (Jerry, Ray and Kathi 3). The first adult boot camp dates back to 1983 and was established in Georgia. Since then, several states have emulated Georgia’s example...