NCJ Number
170134
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 59 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1997) Pages: 82-85
Date Published
1997
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Several programs across the country exemplify the ways in which inexpensive, modest approaches can change the lives of the violent juvenile offenders who are sometimes called super predators.
Abstract
These youths have committed murders, drive-by shootings, and other serious offenses. However, many were victims before they became victimizers. They told the author how the important adults in their lives beat them, ignored them, had sex with them, introduced them to drugs, and showed them how to break the law. Society often labels them, despite statistics revealing that fewer than 0.5 percent of all arrested juveniles commit serious, violent crimes. The most lethal children are dealing with combinations of brain injury, abuse, and psychosis, especially paranoia. However, appropriate programs can help change them. Probation officer Michael Leonard of Brooklyn, N.Y., has placed teenagers in tutorial work, hospitals, churches, and a gardening program. Colorado librarian Di Herald brings books each month to the local juvenile detention facility; the books and discussions have motivated behavior changes in some youths. Peggy Greene has successfully used a skydiving video in Florida. She also developed a 13-week program at the Maryland Juvenile Boot Camp in Charles County; the program can be used easily in detention, residential, or aftercare settings. These programs demonstrate how corrections professionals are taking the initiative to find and lobby for successful programs to incorporate in the lives of juvenile offenders.