Diversion Techniques (From Prediction of Criminal Violence, P 185-194, 1987, Fernand N Dutile and Cleon H Foust, eds. - See NCJ-104584)

• NCJ Number: 104594
• Author(s): J G Miller
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Charles C. Thomas
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Since juvenile incarceration contributes to subsequent juvenile criminality, the resources currently committed to juvenile institutionalization should be used in alternative programs that promise a more positive influence on juveniles.

Abstract

Those whose corrections ideology emphasizes the incarceration of juveniles cannot produce reliable empirical data which shows that this reduces juvenile crime. Data show just the opposite, i.e., that juveniles who have been institutionalized are the ones most likely to recidivate and become adult criminals. The closing of all the juvenile training schools in the Nation would not produce a rise in crime, if the amount of money spent on those training schools was used in alternative supervision and care. Juvenile correctional systems centered in institutionalization do not achieve their stated aims of lowering crime; they serve only the needs of their custodians. The National Center on Institutions and Alternatives conducts private presentence investigations and recommends sentencing plans to judges. This organization provides a model for what juvenile justice systems should be doing in diverting juveniles from institutions to creative alternatives that provide positive influences for juvenile offenders rather than criminogenic conditions. 4 notes.