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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this article by Mahoney was to explore the impact of the deinstitutionalization of juvenile offenders on the juvenile and his/her family.
METHODOLOGY:
The author used a non-experimental review of literature to examine the relative rights of the child and family and the impact of deinstitutionalization on families and family members.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author found that the deinstitutionalization of juvenile offenders effects the juvenile's entire family. In the short term, it was found that the youth's presence may be disruptive and the young offender can frustrate and anger family members as well as provide a negative role model for other children in the home. The author noted that some families simply do not want their children, and she concluded that placing juvenile offenders into homes where they are not welcome and where families do not cooperate with treatment plans may be more harmful than placing the juvenile in more formal correctional settings.
The author found that parents and children often do not have enough knowledge to make informed decisions about treatment options and whether or not they should take the offender's case to court. The author also found conflicting evidence in studies which traced recidivism rates of juvenile offenders treated at home, with some showing reduced arrest rates and others showing increased arrest rates. It was found that labeling may affect the juvenile offender treated at home less than the offender treated in a correction facility, but that his/her family may be subject to more stigmatizing as they become involved in the criminal justice system. Additionally, family members resistant to treatment or embarrassed by the juveniles delinquent actions often used the juvenile offender as a scapegoat by rejecting or negatively labeling him/her.
The author gave several reasons for the lack of empirical data about the effects of deinstitutionalization on families, including a lack of enthusiasm for research by policy makers, a fear of evaluative research by people with a vested interest in the program, and the fact that private families are more difficult to study than youths in institutions. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Deinstitutionalization
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Family Relations
KW - Parent Child Relations
KW - Literature Review
KW - Intervention Program
KW - Treatment Program
KW - Juvenile Justice System
KW - Criminal Justice System
KW - Correctional Decision Making
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
Language: en |