Criminal behavior is a prevalent societal problem, and nearly 40% of it involves youth. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s biennial report, in 2008 there were roughly 2.11 million youth arrests made (persons under the age of 18), and of those arrests, approximately 96 thousand were considered violent crimes (murder, rape, and robbery). Juvenile justice facilities are designed to house these youth offenders, and commonly exist in the forms of residential treatment centers, group homes, and detention centers. Although each facility may be set up differently in terms of program structure and level of security, all facilities share a common goal: to reduce the likelihood of youth reoffending. I feel that many juvenile justice facilities are far from reaching this goal, and I know that is an unfortunate truth, but from personal experience with working inside a facility, I simply don’t believe that juvenile correctional facilities operate as effectively as they could.

I have worked within a juvenile detention center for girls for the past six months, and even in that short time, I have a gained a fairly good insight into its operation. This highly secured facility operates much like a school, only more strictly. Girls will have classroom time, activity time, and cell time. And typically, some sort of weekly anger treatment or therapy exists for the delinquents.

School is broken down into “comprehension” levels as opposed to grade levels. In terms of what the actual levels are and how placement into those levels works, I’m not certain. However, from interviewing several of the girls within the facility, I’ve learned that there are “easy” sections and “hard” sections, and typically once a girl is placed in a section, she remains with that section throughout her sentence. The classroom technology is limited, mainly because of the lack of facility funding and the girls’ restricted privileges. Classroom space is cramped and uncomfortable. Textbooks are outdated and minimal – they don’t always match up with a particular girl’s education level and there aren’t enough for all of the girls. All of these conditions, along with the girls’ dissatisfaction with the way school is run, could possibly hinder this juvenile justice facility’s attempt at providing successful educational services, since it is viewed in such a negative way by most of the girls.

Activity time consists of supervised periods throughout the day that could best be compared to electives. Girls have the opportunity to exercise in a gym, knit and sew, cook, play basketball, or even watch television up on the floor containing the cells. The girls that I have interviewed have all shown interest in these activities. Some sort of enrichment is necessary to alleviate the possible depression that being locked up and restricted may bring. Few girls have complained about the way the activities are designed.

Cell time doesn’t need much explanation; it takes up the most time in the girls’ daily routines. Other than the standard cell time, if a girl severely misbehaves towards another girl or officer, she will be placed on lockdown – a stricter version of cell time where activities are greatly limited and sometimes even removed completely, and education materials and meals are experienced within the confinement of the cell.

The juvenile justice facility that I am familiar with, as well as most juvenile justice facilities, offer anger management treatment programs and counseling. Attendance of inmates in these programs is often required, however, I have been finding out with each new girl I meet that the programs really aren’t run as well as they could be. It is unfortunate that not enough emphasis is being placed on those programs because theoretically, if they were reinforced and if they operated more effectively, recidivism could potentially be reduced.

It is difficult to side with girls who have committed severe and inexcusable crimes. Instinctively, punishment seems like a fair or suitable fate for these girls. However, punishment for such a high-risk population isn’t the best option and therefore I can understand why juvenile centers are (theoretically) designed the way they are; to correct poor behavior rather than punish it However, perhaps if more focus could be placed on enhancing the way the educational system operates within facilities, as well as increasing the amount of unique enrichment programs and other recreational activities offered for the juveniles then something may actually be gained from the juvenile justice system and the goal of correcting such poor behavior could be achieved.

Heather Schwartz is a junior psychology major at Drexel University.