Assignment 1: Juvenile Treatment Debate

Training schools are detention facilities designed to house delinquent youths, generally for thirty days or longer. These facilities represent the most punitive sanction available in the juvenile justice system. Training schools vary in their physical structures, from the relatively comfortable and homelike cottage and dormitory settings of minimum-security institutions to the high-walled compounds that generally resemble their adult prison maximum-security counterparts.

Due to their long-term status, training schools often provide delinquent youths the opportunity to learn a trade or continue their education. The main focus, however, is on rehabilitating the youthful offenders. To this end, a variety of treatment methods are employed, including positive peer culture, behavior modification, and guided group interaction. This is only a part of the list of treatment options available to training school administrators-other methods exist and are currently used.

Submission Details:

In at least 250 words, post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following questions:

If you were superintendent of a training school, which treatment methods would you use and why?

Would your answer depend on the number of training schools operating in your state? How might this make a difference in your answer (think about the different security levels available with multiple training schools)?