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Forrest Rhoads
Professor Jessica Alzen
California Baptist University
English 123
20 May 2017
Research Proposal
In the United States, there are over 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in our jails,

state and federal prisons, and youth detention centers. According to Peter Wagner, the Executive

Director of Prison Policy, juveniles total 34 thousand of this total number. Although people may

argue that juveniles need to be incarcerated to pay for their crimes. This research proposal is to

demonstrate that the United States needs to have and use more treatment programs to rehabilitate

youth within our nation. First, I will review the sources and research I have found. Next, I will

review the history of why so many juveniles are incarcerated within the United States. Third, I

will propose solutions on how to lower juvenile populations within the justice system. Lastly, I

will demonstrate a working thesis that will allow further research on juvenile rehabilitation.

To find credible research I used California Baptist University Online Library to find

scholarly articles to include in my research paper. Students were instructed to find eight to ten

sources that were related to Mass Incarceration in the United States but with a more specific

topic. I chose to do research and write about treatment for juveniles instead of punishment. I then

sorted the articles into the most important to describe how treatment is effective and helps

juveniles. One of the articles I chose was written by Michael Caldwell and Gregory Rybroek for

International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. The article titled Reducing Violence in Serious

Juvenile Offenders Using Intensive Treatment is about finding alternative treatment methods to

reduce violent offenses. Psychologist and trained personal give the juveniles Aggression
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Replacement Training (A.R.T) which teaches pro-social skills, anger control, and how to make

better decisions. A statistic in the study by Caldwell and Van Rybroek explains that, Untreated

comparison youth appeared to be about twice as likely to commit violent offenses as were treated

youth (44% vs. 23%) (Caldwell, Van Rybroek). Another important article is a meta-analysis

which is constructed through multiple case studies. It measures the effectiveness of residential

treatment facilities for juveniles that have committed crimes. For example, All meta-analysis

reported positive mean effect sizes, with d statistics varying from 0.09 to 0.31, and an average

reduction of recidivism by about 9% (Grietens, Hellinckx. Evaluating Effects of Residential

Treatment for Juvenile Offenders by Statistical Metaanalysis: A Review." Aggression and

Violent Behavior). This study proved that the false statement of nothing works needs to be

replaced with a more positive connotation. The term Nothing Works is referring to juveniles

that have had a violent past and have been deemed untreatable. This article is important because

it shows that Europe is using treatment programs to rehabilitate their inmates and the effects are

working. Therefore, prison populations are lower in Europe than the United States. The United

States used to be the only country that sentenced adolescents to life in prison, but has since

changed laws.

Next, I will discuss a brief overview of the history of the current issues that the United

States has on juvenile incarceration. This history section is to inform readers of how any why we

got to this current state and issue. Many states have passed bills that allow prosecutors to skip

juvenile court and have a trial as an adult, these youths are referred to as direct filed. For

example, Juveniles 14 years of age or older charged with committing certain types of murder or

a serious sex offense, under Prop 21, are generally no longer eligible for juvenile court and

prosecutors are allowed to directly file charges against juvenile offenders in adult court for a
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variety of circumstances without having to get the permission of juvenile court to do

that(Ballotpeda). Juvenile miss the opportunity of their rights to due process and do not even get

to see a judge in juvenile court. A juvenile judge should have to fully review the case and

determine if it get passed to adult court. According to Ballotpeda.org fiscal impact from The

California Legislative Analysts Office this proposition cost the state $750 million dollars and

has an annual cost of more than $330 million. It would also cost local counties more than ten

million up to $100 million and $200 to $300 up front cost. This funding would allow the state

and he juvenile court to expand treatment facilities and incorporate new programs. This is a

turning point in juvenile incarceration, because institution population has continued to increase

since the 1980s. An article from the Prison Policy Initiative titled The Whole Pie 2017 by Peter

Wagner and Bemadett Rabuy states that 34 thousand youth are locked up nationwide, 4,500

youth are locked up in adult prisons and 20 thousand are healed by the juvenile justice system in

residential facilities. This article found from the juvenile court Statistics from 2003 that This

whole pie methodology also exposes some disturbing facts about the youth entrapped in our

juvenile justice system: Too many are there for a most serious offense that is not even a crime.

For example, there are almost 7,000 youth behind bars for technical violations of the

requirements of their probation, rather than for a new offense. Further, 600 youth are behind bars

for status offenses, which are behaviors that are not law violations for adults, such as running

away, truancy, and incorrigibility (Ruby, Wagner. 2017). In my opinion, detaining youth in

detention facilities when they have not committed a crime should be banned from all states.

Laws and propositions need to be changed to allow youth to be able to have a chance to change

or truly be taught right from wrong.

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To limit juvenile incarnation the government needs to standardize and use treatment to

rehabilitate adolescents. Treatment programs such as intensive institutional treatment and

multisystem therapies are being used today to treat juveniles for multiple cases or crimes but

space is limited because of funding. Intensive institutional treatment use A.R.T. This is

conducted by teaching pro-social skills, anger control techniques, and how to make moral and

mature decisions. It is conducted by a mental health therapist with the help of the institution

staff. Multisystem therapies include Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, teaching family

and life skill training to teach you ethical and more moral decisions. These programs are being

used in some counties such as Riverside, California. The Riverside County Probation

Department is opening the Alan M. Crogan Youth Treatment and Education Center (YTEC) in

summer, 2017. This facility will offer Social Awareness Programs, pro-social activities,

community involvement, and family reunification. All of these things help to reintroduce

incarcerated youth back into the community. To fully evaluate this solution, I will need to

research how much it costs to house juveniles per year and how much treatment programs will

cost to rehabilitate youth.

Given that Juvenile incarceration is at and an all-time high since the early 2000s because

of bills that have been passed by the government and our nation. I will argue that treatment is a

better solution and must be used when it comes to juveniles instead of locking them away. A

study by The National Institute of Justice has been done to truly see what age limit adolescents

stop committing crime and the results show that it is in ones early 20s. Some scholars believe

that the human brain is not fully developed until this time. Although people may argue that they

need to answer for their crimes, their lives have just begun and they have a long time to answer

for them. Incarceration especially in an adult prison or jail for juveniles has also been proven to
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worsen youth and cause them to commit more and worse crimes. I believe that rehabilitation

programs and treatment will give us the most change and move or nation into a more positive

direction.
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Works Cite

Caldwell, Michael F. and Gregory J. Van Rybroek. "Reducing Violence in Serious Juvenile

Offenders Using Intensive Treatment." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol.

28, 01 Jan. 2005, pp. 622-636. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2004.07.001.

Ballotpeda. Report Advertisement California Proposition 21, Treatment of Juvenile Offenders

(2000) n.d Web. https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_21,_

Treatment_of_Juvenile_Offenders_(2000)

Grietens, Hans and Walter Hellinckx. "Evaluating Effects of Residential Treatment for Juvenile

Offenders by Statistical Metaanalysis: A Review." Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol.

9, 01 Jan. 2004, pp. 401-415. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/S1359-1789(03)00043-0.

Ruby, Wagner. Prison Policy Initiative Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017 Web.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html