NCJ Number
210504
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 40 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2005 Pages: 177-198
Date Published
2005
Length
22 pages
Annotation
A total of 302 juveniles confined in 2 correctional facilities in a Western plains State were assessed for any link between Native-American ethnicity and perceptions of and psychological adjustment in a boot camp.
Abstract
One facility was a State-operated boot camp, and the other facility was a traditional State-run training school. Instruments administered to participants measured conditions of confinement, ethnicity, type of correctional institution, delinquency risk factors, and control variables (number of months in the facility at the time of the study and age). Approximately 28.2 percent (n=87) of the sample identified themselves as Native-American, and approximately 57.5 percent (n=50) of Native-American juveniles were incarcerated in the boot camp. Ordinary least squares regression was used to assess the independent influence of Native-American ethnicity and the boot camp setting on juveniles' perceptions of the correctional environment and psychological adjustment. Findings indicate that Native-American youth in the boot camp did not have distinctly different perceptions of the correctional environment than youth of other ethnic groups. Across all ethnic groups, the boot camp environment was generally perceived as more controlled and active, as well as having less justice and freedom than the traditional environment of the training school. Native-American youth in the boot camp reported significantly lower levels of anxiety than all other ethnic groups. Across all ethnic groups, childhood maltreatment was related to similar levels of increased depression compared with nonmaltreated youth. 3 tables, 8 notes, and 72 references