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| An Innovative Approach to an Age Old Problem |
| By James Short, M.S.C.J. |
| Published: 09/19/2011 |
Juvenile Corrections has always found itself under attack in one way or another. Whether it be from the far right that believes that the system is coddling these young criminals or from the far left who cries that everything is too punitive. The one thing that everyone agrees with is that the system is flawed. With juvenile incarceration and recidivism rates consistently rising across the country and departmental resources drastically dwindling, we are getting set for the perfect storm.
Many departments have resorted to relying on officers to wear a number of different hats while on shift. These officers that were put through a Law Enforcement Academy to learn care, custody and control, are now in many cases being asked to act as counselors, teachers and social workers all the while keeping their integrity as an officer. This is an impossible task. You cannot have true rehabilitation if the clients don’t buy into the process. The officers that are being asked to multitask beyond their training and capabilities will never buy into this process, therefore, there is no buy in from anyone and departments are simply going through the motions. In 2005 the Salt River Department of Corrections in conjunction with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale decided to buck the status quo and no longer settle for mediocrity. These two interties teamed up and put into place a rehabilitative model that not only places the emphasis on education, life skills and socialization but a model that allows officers to be officers, teachers to be teachers and all parties involved to do the job that they are trained and qualified to do. The Salt River Department of Corrections Boys & Girls Club Program is the first full time Boys & Girls Club site located inside a correctional facility in Indian Country. This program was created to complement and enhance the overall rehabilitation process in the juvenile corrections facility. The long term goal is to significantly decrease the community’s juvenile recidivism rate by helping these youth, once released from custody, transition into our community clubs and programs. The program runs in conjunction with the correctional education rotation and offers a number of health, recreation and life skill classes that will allow the juvenile detainees to acquire the tools that are necessary for a successful transition from the institution back to the community. This program is not only providing the youth with solid, proven Boys & Girls Club curriculum but it is also helping with academic credit recovery. With the help of the Salt River Department of Education, the juveniles that participate in the Salt River Department of Corrections Boys & Girls Club programs will receive high school elective credit. This collaboration of Juvenile Corrections and Boys & Girls Club has not only proven to be extremely effective in the reduction of juvenile recidivism but financially effective as well. With the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale being a separate non-profit entity, the staff and programs that are being used in the Salt River facility are absolutely free of charge to the Department. This allows the department to utilize their staff and resources more effectively while providing a higher quality program to the youth that they serve. This also allows the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale the opportunity to serve some of the most at-risk youth in the state in the hopes of transitioning them into positive community programs. This program is a perfect example of how two separate interties, working towards a common goal can be extremely successful in providing the best quality programs to their clients while being fiscally responsible at the same time. With the common trends of high delinquency rates and low departmental budgets, this model, created by the Salt River Department of Corrections and The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, of combining governmental agencies with other nonprofit organizations to provide the best services at the lowest cost could be the wave of the future in the field of juvenile corrections. Editors note: Corrections.com author, James Short, M.S.C.J. is the Director of Correctional Programs for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale |
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