Juvenile Justice Facility, Research Paper Example

Each and every year it appears as though the rate of juvenile offenders continues to increase and more children are placed behind bars than was ever thought possible. “Nationwide each year, police make 2.2 million juvenile arrests; 1.7 million cases are referred to juvenile courts; an estimated 400,000 youngsters cycle through juvenile detention centers; and nearly 100,000 youth are confined in juvenile facilities on any given night” (AECF.org). Clearly, there is a serious problem in the United States with the justice system being forced to address unfortunately large numbers of juvenile offenders.  When considering building a new juvenile justice facility, it is important to consider these alarming statistics.  The purpose of the juvenile justice facility must be to reform the offenders, counsel them through the justice system, and enact real change within their lives to reduce the risk of repeat offenders.

There are many reasons that the youth of the United States are placed in the unfortunate position of being in front of a court room and sentenced to a time in prison. Juvenile justice facilities are provided to help reform the juvenile offenders. Unfortunately, they engage in multiple asks of risk taking of sensation-seeking, which is natural side effect of puberty and entering into adolescence.  “Risk-taking and sensation-seeking characterize adolescent behaviors, particularly in situations of high emotional intensity” (ChinnPlanning.com). This is an important concept to understand when considering how to best reform and counsel young men and women.  In addition, studies have shown that “youth are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors in the company of peers” (ChinnPlanning.com). Therefore, reformation can be performed within a group environment, but it is more likely that real change and direct personal impact can be performed through individual counseling. For this reason, the new juvenile justice facility being constructed will contain trained counselors to interact with these young children one-on-one on a daily basis through private counseling sessions in order to help reform these children.

The juvenile justice facility will be around 200,000 square feet and will cost around $40 million to build.  It will contact recreational facilities, a working cafeteria, 150 beds for the inmates and quarters for the justice and counseling professionals to work on site.  By having a court room, probation officer, and counselors on-site it enables these young children to receive the immediate attention they need based on a number of scenarios. A child that is being tried or re-tried can attend court immediately on-site instead of risking any problems through transfer to a public courthouse. A probation officer can help monitor these children and build strong relationships with them while they serve their sentences.  After they are released, the probation officer will continue to work with them to make sure that their behavior is adequate and does not impact their sentencing.  Finally, as previously discussed, the impact of counseling is very crucial.  Counseling will be provided every other day for each inmate, with the off-day being provided for recreational activity to help in the reformation.  Should a child behave inappropriately, security officers will ensure that they are reprimanded properly and then a counselor will see them within three hours of the inappropriate action to provide counseling.  The facility would be built upwards with multiple stories to the complex. The bottom floor would maintain the bulk of the judicial offices, courtrooms, eating facilities, and medical or counseling services.  The second, third and fourth floors would be for housing the offenders.  It would be beneficial that strategically placed security officers are located on each floor to ensure that the offenders are closely monitored for ill-behaviors that are similar to those adolescent risk-taking and thrill-seeking behaviors that led to them being arrested in the first place.

Reformation can be involved with a number of different activities and counseling behaviors through certified justice facility staff members.  First of all, there is a lot of evidence that has shown that regular exercise has enormous benefits on decreasing human stress levels, providing adrenaline with a productive outlet, and helping young men and women build a strong bond with teammates and coaches.  Within young children, especially girls, as exercise continues to show physical benefits, it also works to increase the self-image and self-worth that young people maintain about themselves.  Also, healthy competition and bonding can be performed through various outlets such as video gaming or team projects that shows young people how to work together.  Reformation is the number one reason to consider the various aspects of the new juvenile justice facility.  It must be equipped with physical and mental activities to help provide the reformed changes within young people that make it easier for them to re-enter society.  Therefore, the new facility will have recreational resources, including a basketball court, workout facility, and a video game room to help the offenders relieve stress and interact with their peers in a constructive manner.  Staff members will be present at all activities to watch over any misconduct, and no child will be permitted to conduct any more than 10 hours of physical activity per week.  This is to remind them that they are not there on a vacation, but rather to reform themselves and return to regular society at the end of their sentence.

Budgetary concerns are very difficult to estimate during such difficult economic times.  First of all, “correctional confinement typically costs $200 to $300 per youth per day, far more than intensive home- and community-based treatment” (ChinnPlanning.com).  It would be beneficial to estimate roughly $2.5 million in annual salaries for culinary professionals, medical workers, security officers, administrators and other miscellaneous personnel.  Most of the judicial professionals are provided their salaries from the state government or public organizations, so it is not likely that we would need to consider these professionals within the salary requirements of our budget.  By taking the previous figure of $300 per youth per day and estimating for maximum capacity, almost $16.5 million is required for an annual budget on this facility.  Government and private funding must be provided in order to meet the costs of this reformative juvenile justice facility, but by providing judicial, counseling and medical services on-site, it will actually reduce the costs of hiring outside the facility.  These numbers are very crucial in receiving approval for the building of a new juvenile justice facility, but it is likely to be an environment that is highly conducive to reformation and reducing alarming repeat offender rates.

These juvenile offenders will be required to maintain a very strict schedule to follow.  They will wake up at 6:30am every morning and have breakfast.  The population will be split into two groups, one will shower and then eat, and the other will eat and then shower.  This will ensure that the cafeteria is not over-loaded.  The students will then be split up into three groups.  The first group will attend their individual counseling sessions. The second group will attend recreational activities.  Finally, the third group will attend educational sessions that are geared to teach the children what they would normally be learning in school, as well as additional real-life scenarios to help build socially conscientious decision-making.  These activities will be overseen by counselors, security staff, and educators.  The offenders will again be split up into two with off-set eating times, and then attend another educational, recreational, or counseling session in the afternoon.  After a split-dinner, the children will be sent back to their quarters to study and interact with their peers.  The doors to the quarters will not be locked during this time so that the children can feel free to get up and move around; however, they will not be permitted to leave their floors for any reason.  Bathrooms are provided in each quarter, so there is no reason for the children to leave.  During this time period, the highest number of security guards will be on site to provide security and safety to the inmates and the staff members. Three counselors will be on-call to come to the facility in case any inappropriate actions should take place. Lights will go out at 10:00pm for the night.

A growing problem within the country is the rate of repeat juvenile offenders that leave the facilities and end up returning without ever having been properly reformed.  Studies show that “50 percent to 80 percent of youth released from juvenile correctional facilities are rearrested within two to three years— even those who were not serious offenders prior to their commitment” (ChinnPlanning.com).  A highly efficient reformative juvenile justice facility will help in reducing these rates.  Reforming juvenile offenders and enabling them to take responsibility for their actions and control their own lives should always be the goal of any juvenile justice facility.  This new facility that has been proposed will be highly effective and maintain a stable performance level in reducing these alarming rates and providing a highly valuable public service.

References

Bloede, C. (n.d.). Merging juvenile justice and sustainability in california. Retrieved on October 13, 2009, from Web site: https://www.aca.org/fileupload/177/ahaidar/Bloede1.pdf

ChinnPlanning.com. (n.d.). City of philadelphia department of human services new youth center facility program plan. Retrieved on October 12, 2009, from Web site: http://www.chinnplanning.com/assets/Juvenile/cityofphili.pdf