Discuss how today’s juvenile justice correctional facilities have become psychiatric facilities. How has the size and type of populations of juvenile facilities changed since the 1980s? In what ways are our facilities inadequately equipped to accommodate juveniles with mental health problems?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

During the 1980s and 1990s, incarceration rates for youthful offenders increased;
however, over the past decade incarceration rates have decreased. In some states, the
incarcerated population of youthful offenders has been cut by more than half. Today,
these facilities have become the placement of last resort for many adolescents suffering
from serious trauma backgrounds and mental health problems. In most states, detention
and incarceration facilities have become yesterday’s psychiatric asylums: uneasy
places with little hope, few rehabilitative efforts, or successful outcomes. The juvenile
justice system was not created to manage such a large mental health population of
youthful offenders. Facilities often lack established policies and practices, sufficient
mental health staff resources, or adequate training to work with a youthful offender
population suffering from mental health problems.