history of boot camps

history of boot camps

Boot Camps
            Juvenile offenders take a lot of concern from the public for many reasons.   One reason is that they are "just kids" and they shouldn't be treated so harshly.   Another reason is that they potentially have their entire lives ahead of them to further commit crimes and this is something the government needs to take care of.   Therefore, their punishment for the crimes they commit is not taken lightly.   There have been many alternative programs to avoid placing juveniles in prison; one of which is boot camps.
            Boot camps, also known as shock incarcerations (Flash, 2003) are programs that accept juveniles and they serve out their time sentenced by the courts.   These programs have two potential start times.   Many authors support that they began in the 1800s where their main focus was in military tactics (Flash, 2003) Some people say that boot camps and military training in corrections can be traced all the way back to Zebulon Brockway at the Elmira Reformatory in Elmira, New York in 1888 (Anderson et al, 1999). When boot camps were first started, they were distinguished from other correctional programs by their extreme emphasis on physical labor, exercise, and a military atmosphere. While boot camp programs were originally designed for adults, the juvenile justice system has also adopted them.   The idea of juvenile boot camps is actually a relatively new idea. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention funded three pilot sites in: Cleveland, Ohio, Denver, Colorado , and Mobile, Alabama. These sites focused on nonviolent offenders under the age of 18. These pilot juvenile boot camps were designed to be a highly-structured three to six month residential program followed by six to nine months of aftercare (probation). In contrast to adult boot camps, academic and therapeutic programming, as well as rehabilitation and aftercare are seen as critical components. Other authors and even the Office of Juvenile Justice and...