Assignment: Challenges in the Administration of Juvenile Detention

Here's What Happened . . .

You are the superintendent of the Centervale Juvenile Detention Center. Centervale's mayor has been discussing juvenile justice policy with several advisors and has now requested your input. Specifically, the mayor is interested in your thoughts on the various justifications for correction, challenges associated with running a detention center, and steps that might be taken to address those challenges.

Here Is What You Need To Do . . .

Part I

Using the memo template, prepare a memo to the mayor that examines the following:

• The mayor is aware that different rationales for the correction of juveniles exist. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the four primary models of corrections and make an argument for the one that should be utilized at the Centervale Juvenile Detention Center. Indicate which primary model will represent the best interests for the youth and the Centervale community. Compare the selected model to the other three models of corrections, identifying the pros and cons of each. Use examples from empirical research as foundational support for your case.

• The mayor has been advised at different points on a number of challenges currently facing juvenile corrections, particularly juvenile detention. Based on your knowledge of detention facilities, identify the single greatest challenge to successfully administering the Centervale Juvenile Detention Center. As superintendent, you have unique insight into the struggles of the administration, staff, and detained youths. Describe and analyze the various challenges and point out one that is the most critical. Using empirical research to identify three or four other challenges, examine and explain the significance of these challenges as they relate to successfully administering the Centervale Juvenile Detention Center.

Part II

As the detention center superintendent, you are responsible for choosing from a wide variety of programs and services for implementation within your facility, each with its own goals, processes, and methods. Based on the challenges you outlined in Part I, which program, policies, or initiatives would you select for your detention center? Remember, advocates from multiple programs and initiatives that claim to address the various ills of the justice system routinely approach the mayor touting a particular course of action. As the superintendent, it's your job to educate the mayor on which program best fits the unique challenges of your community.

Using empirical research, identify and analyze several possible initiatives that would best fit the Centervale Juvenile Detention Center, making sure to point out the strengths and weaknesses of each along with your recommendations. Remember, too, that your recommendations must fit within the general tenets of the correctional rationale you selected in Part I for utilization at the detention center. Also, remember to point out how the programs you recommend might affect the community as well as the youths being housed in the detention center.