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RECLAIM Ohio: The Business of Reclaiming Youthful Offenders and Public Peace

NCJ Number
177056
Journal
Journal for Juvenile Justice and Detention Services Volume: 13 Issue: Dated: Pages: issue (Spring 1998)-41
Author(s)
C R Zimmermann
Date Published
1998
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article describes a program implemented in Ohio to reduce crowding in juvenile institutions.
Abstract
The program, called RECLAIM Ohio, demonstrates that secure incarceration is not cost-efficient for non-repetitive, low-level offenders. It promotes the use of alternative sanctions for these offenders, thus making available beds in secure detention facilities for serious, habitual offenders. RECLAIM Ohio makes the costs of corrections visible, holds the Department of Youth Services accountable for a quality correctional product, increases local control of funding and programs, and creates fiscal interdependence among state and local juvenile justice entities. Since RECLAIM was implemented in 1995, it has improved the infrastructure and range of community-based options, reduced crowding in State facilities, and eliminated the need for costly expansion of State juvenile correctional facilities but has actually enhanced the State's ability to keep serious, violent and repetitive offenders for longer, more intense programming. Figures, references