NCJ Number
169402
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 44 Issue: 1 Dated: special issue (January 1998) Pages: 143-153
Date Published
1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article reviews juvenile justice policies developed over the past 20 years and attempts to determine the principal challenges of the future.
Abstract
During the past two decades, the Federal Government made three major shifts in response to public concern about youth crime. First, it sponsored community development programs for youth. However, the scope of redevelopment exceeded the resources, talent, and knowledge available to direct changes of such complexity. The gap between expectation and achievable results fostered disillusionment, alienation, social unrest, and abandonment of the programs. The second major shift was spearheaded by a series of presidential commissions that addressed problems of crime and violence. Despite broad consensus among experts about the validity of strategies suggested by the commissions, implementation has been spotty and the results difficult to assess. The third major shift reflected a strong conservative approach which rejected rehabilitation programs and indeterminate sentencing in favor of punitive sentencing and other repressive actions, for both adult and juvenile offenders. Six policy issues will require new perspectives and approaches in the future: (1) confronting the alienation of youth; (2) building community resources; (3) allocation of resources; (4) employment; (5) fear of crime; and (6) creating cooperation. References