Rhabilitating Juvenile Offenders Essay, Research Paper

Rehabilitating Juvenile Offenders

America has a problem with juvenile offenders. Yes, it would be easy to lock them up but that costs too much and does little to rehabilitate the juvenile. If detention homes were a deterrent, then crime levels committed by juveniles wouldn?t be so high. Removing then from the general public will keep them out of trouble but when the time comes to release them, they can?t be stopped from doing wrong. They need to be changed so they won?t go back to committing crimes upon release. There has to be a way to punish and rehabilitate juveniles.

My suggestion is boot camp. Juvenile boot camps are now on the rise in the United States to help first-time offenders reintegrate back into society without living the life of crime. Due to the increases in juvenile crime and the high cost of residential placements, the number of boot camps for juvenile offenders has grown in the last couple of years. There are various types of juvenile boot camps nationwide that aim for the same two goals: rehabilitation and cost control. Some people don?t agree that the money should be spent to rehabilitate these offenders when it is cheaper to keep them locked up. In all actuality, it is better to spend money to improve society then to do the least and expect the most. Juvenile boot camp programs tend to model the boot camp training that military recruits receive. It makes the juvenile work hard, become disciplined, and well behaved. It is not definite that this will help all kids but it could help most of them. Also, boot camps make the pupils do community work to help give back what they have taken from their community.

The reason that boot camps aren?t used so often is that they take time, cost money, and are inconvenient. It is easier to lock a child up then to work with them. Locking them up is just prolonging the inevitable. Putting a child behind bars does not help fix their problems. They need to be worked, kept busy, and trained to be productive members of society. It is obvious that present methods are not working. A new solution has to be formed. I believe that boot camps will be the program that changes the return rate of juveniles going back to a life of crime. Hopefully the government will see it that way too.