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Library service to youth in detention faces many challenges and difficulties. Results of an exploratory study suggest that cooperation among libraries and other service agencies within juvenile correctional facilities is associated with effective library service on many levels. Using definitions of cooperation and collaboration compiled from the library and information science, public administration, and social services fields, the author draws evidence from interviews with librarians in the field that helps define the nature of cooperative aspects of library services in detention. Information uncovered in this study highlights areas where cooperation appears to influence the effectiveness of libraries, such as (1) working with complex administrative policies and structures for housing, educating, and treating youth, (2) understanding the various roles of corrections staff and in communicating with them, (3) sorting out differences in expectations and understanding of basic library purpose, and (4) integrating library services into educational and other programs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of gang organization in youth correctional facilities as reported by youth and staff as well as to analyze the relationship between institutional violence and level of gang organization.

The data were collected through interviews with staff and youth in correctional facilities. Gang organization level averages are compared across youth and official perspectives, and the variability of responses among youth is also examined. Negative binomial regression models are conducted to determine the association between perceived level of gang organization and officially recorded violent behavior, both prior to and subsequent to the interview.

Perceptions of institutional gang organization vary notably depending on who is reporting. In contrast with prior studies of street gangs, controlling for youth demographics and offense characteristics, the authors find no significant relationship between gang organization and violence.

The sample size is small and the data are cross-sectional. Future studies will need to be conducted in order to confirm these findings, as they contradict prior studies. The analysis of street gang organization may need to be approached differently by scholars.

Research has not been conducted on the organizational structure of gangs in youth correctional facilities or its relationship to institutional violence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine personal and social network characteristics that predict staff ratings of therapeutic community (TC) resident role model status.

In all, 49 incarcerated female residents tracked interactions with peers, including verbal affirmations and corrections, during a 12-hour period. Two weeks later, staff members were surveyed about their view of participants as role models. Poisson regression was used to analyze resident interactions and demographics as predictors of role model status.

The number of corrections given to peers was positively related to staff ratings of role model status (B=0.234, SE=0.088, p=0.008). The number of affirmations given was negatively related to staff ratings (B=−0.112, SE=0.051, p=0.028). Resident phase was positively related to staff ratings (B=0.256, SE=0.102, p=0.012). These values did not significantly change when controlling for affirmations and corrections received from peers, non-programmatic interactions between residents, or resident demographics.

These results imply that TC staff judge role model status by resident actions in the community rather than demographics or peer reactions. External validity is limited by the single site, case study design, and the fact that only female TC residents were sampled.

This study is the first to track resident peer interactions over the course of a day and to link those interactions to role model status.

This paper seeks to describe a cost‐benefit analysis of early childhood education programmes.

The analysis utilises the best evidence available for early education programmes, combined with data from Washington State and economic literature to determine the monetary implications of these programmes.

The results indicate that early childhood education can yield benefits that substantially outweigh the costs of the programmes. In addition, these benefits were found to apply in many different public sector areas.

The paper offers an analytic model to determine the long‐term benefits of early intervention programmes.

Youth in juvenile corrections settings have significant academic, behavioral, and mental health needs. Additionally, a disproportionate percentage of them are identified with a diagnosed disability, with Emotional Disturbance (ED) as the most common diagnosis. Despite these facts, appropriate education and intensive mental health care is often lacking in these settings. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that some facilities use methods such as disciplinary confinement as a response to behavioral infractions; a practice that is not only counterproductive to rehabilitation, but violates federal education law and established legal standards. This study examined the use of disciplinary confinement in a juvenile justice system and investigated factors associated with frequency of this practice and time spent in disciplinary confinement. Participants were 2,353 youth with and without identified disabilities at state-run juvenile corrections facilities. Results indicated that students with disabilities spent considerably more time in disciplinary confinement than students without disabilities. Students with ED spent considerably more time than students in other disability categories and students without disabilities. Additionally, Black students, Black students with ED, and Hispanic students with ED spent considerably more time in disciplinary seclusion than other groups. The authors discuss results with respect to disproportionate use of disciplinary confinement and provide subsequent recommendations including the reexamination of disciplinary confinement practices by leaders in juvenile corrections.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a term used to describe the pathway traveled by students from public schools to incarceration in secure juvenile detention and correctional programs. It begins with students who are marginalized by the education system because of their academic and behavioral issues. The pipeline leads from school failure and disciplinary exclusion to involvement with the juvenile justice system. Youth who are ethnic minorities (especially those who are African-American or Hispanic) as well as those with educational disabilities (especially those with learning and behavioral disorders) are significantly overrepresented in data sets representing key points along the pipeline (e.g., students with poor academic achievement, high rates of suspension, expulsion, and dropout) as well as their high rates of incarceration. From his personal perspective and experience with the juvenile justice system, the author attempts to explicate the pipeline, and to describe efforts to impact it positively.

Alternative education settings (AES; i.e., self-contained alternative schools, therapeutic day treatment and residential schools, and juvenile corrections schools) serve youth with complicated and often serious academic and behavioral needs. The use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and practices with Best Available Evidence are necessary to increase the likelihood of long-term success for these youth. In this chapter, we define three primary categories of AES and review what we know about the characteristics of youth in these schools. Next, we discuss the current emphasis on identifying and implementing EBPs with regard to both academic interventions (i.e., reading and mathematics) and interventions addressing student behavior. In particular, we consider implementation in AES, where there are often high percentages of youth requiring special education services and who have a significant need for EBPs to succeed academically, behaviorally, and in their transition to adulthood. We focus our discussion on: (a) examining approaches to identifying EBPs; (b) providing a brief review of EBPs and Best Available Evidence in the areas of mathematics, reading, and interventions addressing student behavior for youth in AES; (c) delineating key implementation challenges in AES; and (d) providing recommendations for how to facilitate the use of EBPs in AES.

Serious juvenile delinquency is a significant and costly problem in the society. However, custodial environments often exacerbate current problems and promote recidivism. Girls’ delinquency, in particular, may call for trauma-informed approaches within organizations that serve the most serious offenders. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether implementation of a trauma-informed intervention that aims to change the therapeutic stand of the organization, the Sanctuary Model®, corresponded with improved indicators of physical and psychological safety of staff and youth at a female secure juvenile justice facility.

This study utilizes quantitative administrative and performance-based standards (PbS) data routinely collected at the facility.

Findings suggest that the facility was a safer place for both residents and staff after implementation of the model. Its safety indicators also compare favorably to those of the juvenile justice correctional field in general.

This study was constrained by a number of limitations, including lack of some desirable detail on the PbS measures and on a comparable field group of girls’ facilities. It is also hard to assess the impact of other concurrent changes in the facility. Future research that addresses these issues would be useful in further determining the utility of the model.

This study is the first to examine the impact of a structured trauma-informed organizational change intervention based on therapeutic communities principles, namely the Sanctuary Model, on staff and youth in a secure juvenile justice facility. Findings may be of value to practitioners, administrators, policy makers, and researchers in the corrections field.

This chapter explores the provision of library services to children residing in juvenile justice facilities. The small body of scholarly literature published on the topic over the last 50 years is examined, followed by a description of the findings of a recent Australian survey of juvenile justice library provision in that country. Australia presents a very poor example of the provision of library services to children living in correctional detention. A contrast to the Australian context is provided through a case study of the library service to the South Carolina Birchwood School, in the United States. Housed in the South Carolina Juvenile Justice Centre, the Birchwood School library is presented as an example of better practice and an illustration of what can be achieved by a juvenile justice facility library when it is sufficiently staffed and funded. Opportunities for further research are identified and conclusions are drawn regarding the need for libraries in juvenile justice facilities.