Know The Other Types of Facilities for Delinquents

Studies suggest that the juvenile delinquent stands to suffer severely from even short-term stays in secure detention centers, and subsequently, supporters seek substitutes to this seemingly simplistic solution. Specifically, advocates for disaffected children aim to find alternatives to locking juvenile delinquents away until something more appropriate is found for them, and moreover, these alternatives would likely be cost-effective ways of addressing the need for keeping offenders close at hand before and after adjudication.

The following are other types of facilities that may be used in this country to temporarily hold the juvenile delinquent populace:

While not technically a discussion of how facilities may better serve the needs of juvenile delinquents, there is the possibility that they may be released back to their homes prior to appearance in juvenile courtAnother non-traditional "facility" of merit for juvenile delinquents is the reporting center, which would allow children to stay out of secure detention centers provided they report daily to it. In particular, this seems beneficial to the low-income portion of the juvenile delinquent population. Alongside heavy scrutiny of their case, juvenile delinquents may draw positives from the intervention strategies, recreational programs, and life skills workshops offered by reporting centers, as well as to the free dinners therein.

In addition, a juvenile delinquent may find himself or herself in a residential placement without having to live under lock and key. Rather than having to be subjected to the perils of detention/commitment, he or she may participate in residential programs that, along with the above options, employ child/family shelters in trying to avoid detention.

Then again, depending on the conditions of their home environments, juvenile delinquents may not be eligible to return to their families, especially if an undercurrent of abuseand other surrogate families may be sufficient to get the juvenile delinquent out of detention, at least temporarily.

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