Book Review: Boot Camps: An Intermediate Sanction, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Book Review: Boot camps: An intermediate sanction

Boot Camps, Gaylene Armstrong, Doris Layton Mackenzie

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Boot Camps And Traditional Institutions On Juvenile Residents: Perceptions, Adjustment, And Change, Doris Layton Mackenzie, David B. Wilson, Gaylene Armstrong, Angela Gover

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Experiences of 2,668 juveniles in 26 boot camps were compared to 1,848 juveniles in 22 traditional facilities. There were no reported differences between juveniles' anxiety and depression in the two types of facilities during their first month of confinement. Overall, juveniles in boot camps perceived their environment to be more positive (i.e., therapeutic), less hostile (i.e., dangerous), and as providing less freedom (conversely more structure) than juveniles in traditional facilities. Relative to others in the same facility, youth who viewed their facility negatively experienced more stress (i.e., anxiety, depression). Scales measuring changes over time found that youth in boot camps …

Book Review: Forms Of Constraint: A History Of Prison Architecture, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Book Review: Forms of Constraint: A History of Prison Architecture

The Influences Of Personal Background On Perceptions Of Juvenile Correctional Environments, Ojmarrh Mitchell, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Angela Gover, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study examined whether the individual characteristics of race, sex, and education affect juvenile correctional staff's perceptions of their work environments. Prior to 1970, correctional staff were minimally educated and predominantly comprised of White males. Correctional reformers believed that employing more female, minority, and highly educated staff members would lead to more efficacious correctional environments. The existing research conducted in adult correctional facilities not only calls this belief into question, but also indicates that the hiring of nontraditional staff may have exacerbated existing internal hostilities. These research efforts uniformly examined adult correctional institutions, however. This study examined these issues in …

Gender Differences In The Effect Of Child Maltreatment On Criminal Activity Over The Life Course, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This paper adds to a growing body of knowledge regarding the criminal consequences of childhood victimization. A prospective research design is used to compare a group of maltreated youth to a matched control group in order to determine the extent to which child abuse and neglect influence both juvenile delinquency and adult crime. Controlling for race and sex, abused and neglected children are more likely to have a juvenile arrest record. In addition, controlling for involvement in juvenile crime, child maltreatment also influences adult criminality. Motivated by the findings of qualitative studies focusing on female offenders, I examine gender differences …

Importation And Deprivation Explanations Of Juveniles’ Adjustment To Correctional Facilities, Angela Gover, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Two theoretical explanations, importation and deprivation, are commonly used to explain inmate adjustment to the correctional environment. This study examined the relation- ship of selected importation and deprivation factors on juveniles’ anxiety levels while they were confined to institutions. Self-reported data collected from 3,986 juveniles and aggregate level data collected from interviews with administrators at 48 U.S. correctional facilities were used in a probit regression analysis. Importation and deprivation factors were found to have a significant impact on juveniles’ anxiety levels. Youth who were younger, White, or had a history of exposure to family violence experienced more anxiety. Youth confined …

The Impact Of Individual, Organizational, And Environmental Attributes On Voluntary Turnover Among Juvenile Correctional Staff Members, Ojmarrh Mitchell, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong, Angela Gover

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In this study we assessed the impact of individual employee characteristics, organizational attributes, and quality of the correctional environment on the turnover intentions of juvenile correctional staff members. Both individual characteristics and organizational attributes were significant predictors of turnover intentions. The individual characteristics were age, race, and education; the organizational variables were job satisfaction, stress, and staff support and communication. In general, the organizational attributes were stronger predictors of turnover. Only one variable pertaining to the quality of correctional environment, facility's amount of care toward juveniles, was significantly related to turnover. In contrast to findings of previous research, dangerousness, gender, …

Boot Camps And Traditional Correctional Facilities For Juveniles A Comparison Of The Participants, Daily Activities, And Environments, Angela Gover, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The environments of twenty-seven boot camps and twenty-two traditional facilities were examined in a national study of juvenile correctional facilities. Surveys with administrators and data from institutional files indicated that juveniles in the boot camps had less serious offending histories than did those in traditional facilities. Boot camp environments were more structured and most incorporated military basic training components. There were differences in the use of summary punishments and certain other matters, but few differences were found in therapeutic activities. In general, boot camp juveniles were more active but comparison facilities had more educators and other staff for each juvenile. …

Perceived Conditions Of Confinement: A National Evaluation Of Juvenile Boot Camps And Traditional Facilities., Gaylene Armstrong, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Angela Gover, Ojmarrh Mitchell

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In a national study of juvenile correctional facilities, the perceived environment of 22 juvenile boot camps was compared to the perceived environment of 22 traditional facilities. Self-report surveys completed by 4,121 juveniles recorded information on demographics, risk factors, and perceptions of the facility's environment. Compared to juveniles in traditional correctional facilities, boot camp residents consistently perceived the environment as significantly more controlled, active, and structured, and as having less danger from other residents. Boot camp juveniles also perceived the environment as providing more therapeutic and transitional programming. Overall, from the perspective of the juveniles, boot camps appear to provide a …

Adolescent Substance Use And Adult Health Status, Ryan E. Spohn, Howard B. Kaplan

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The intuitively appealing hypothesized relationship between drug use and physical health status is reexamined critically in a longitudinal perspective. Individuals who were first surveyed in Houston junior high schools in 1971 are followed up through personal interviews in the fourth decade of life. In addition to focusing on the baseline effect of drug use on health, we include latent constructs reflecting deviance and psychological maladjustment as theoretically relevant antecedent and mediating variables. Using structural equation models, we found a positive, significant relationship between adolescent substance use and poor physical health in adulthood. Controlling for the spurious effects of adolescent psychological …

The Environment And Working Conditions In Juvenile Boot Camps And Traditional Facilities, Ojmarrh Mitchell, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Angela Gover, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This national study of juvenile correctional facilities compared the correctional environments of 25 juvenile boot camps to those of 22 traditional juvenile facilities. Data on perceived environmental conditions for juveniles and work climate for staff, as well as demographic characteristics, were collected from 1,233 juvenile correctional facility staff. While there was some regional variation, in comparison to staff employed in traditional juvenile correctional facilities, boot camp staff perceived the environmental conditions for juveniles as having significantly more activity, control, justice, structure, caring, and therapeutic programming, and believed that their releases were better prepared for the future. Boot staff also perceived …

Performance-Based Standards For Juvenile Corrections, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong, Angela R. Grover

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Total quality management (TQM) has revolutionized business, and some of its components can be applied to corrections. The importance of information for developing performance-based standards is obvious. Much more difficult is the process of deciding what information to obtain and how to use it. In the area of juvenile corrections, information about the conditions or environments of juvenile facilities and how these conditions are associated with intermediate and longterm outcomes will be invaluable in developing performance-based standards.