Development and Implementation of Standards for Juvenile Corrections (From Proceedings of the One Hundred and Ninth Annual Congress of Correction, P 205-213, 1980 - See NCJ-74427)

• NCJ Number: 74448
• Author(s): D K Sechrest
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: American Correctional Association
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

The historical development of the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections is described, and the use of standards in the planning process and their implementation in juvenile correction agencies are discussed.

Abstract

In 1974, LEAA awarded a grant to the American Correctional Association to establish the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections, which consists of 20 members representing the full range of juvenile and adult correctional services, the broader criminal justice system, the business community, and the public. Since that time, the Commission has been developing a comprehensive set of national standards for corrections. It is currently applying these standards in a process of voluntary correctional accreditation, which represents the first major effort to develop, promulgate, and apply operational standards to correctional services nationwide. In the development of standards for juvenile institutions and community agencies, the goal was to prescribe the best possible practices that could be achieved in the United States today, while being realistic and practical. Only programs which accept delinquent youths will be accredited at this time since the Commission believes status offenders should be served outside the juvenile system. Since all sets of standards promulgated require sound administrative practices, about one-third of each manual is devoted to adminstration, fiscal management, personnel practices, recordkeeping, management information, planning and coordination, and research and evaluation. However, standards are of little use to the administrator of a juvenile corrections agency without a clear statement of the overall goals of the system. Once goals have been set, standards can provide specific and measurable objectives, help define tasks to accomplish in reaching objectives, help define tasks to accomplish in reaching objectives, and assist in scheduling and budgeting and in the development of policies and procedures for service delivery. Nine references are provided.