NCJ Number
132170
Date Published
1990
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Some 151 of approximately 300 juvenile institutions representing 46 states responded to a questionnaire mailed on October 1, 1990 which was designed to examine a variety of issues facing American correctional institutions in relationship to several organizational and policy factors.
Abstract
Issues affecting the institutions surveyed include overcrowding, staffing, services, recidivism, gangs, violence, and conflict within the institutions. Overcrowding significantly differentiates higher recidivism rates; the more the overcrowding, the more likely a correctional institution would report a recidivism rate higher than 20 percent. Those institutions reporting overcrowding were more likely to report a problem with racial conflict, and correctional institutions experiencing racial conflict were more likely to identify a problem with damage to property. A need emerges for technical assistance to these juvenile institutions to assist them with the American Correctional Association (ACA) accreditation process, for capital expenditures to improve the physical facilities, and for ACA standards to govern the handling of gangs within correctional settings and to address the problem of racial conflict. 6 footnotes, 2 figures, 4 tables, and 32 references (Author abstract modified)