Juvenile Boot Camps

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of juvenile boot camps in prison, jail, school, and detention center based settings based off a systematic review of the current literature. The overarching research question for this project is; does the effectiveness of boot camps change in different types of situations? The systematic review was based off ten studies ranked at a level three on the Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods (MSSM). Each study must have looked specifically at boot camps as the primary intervention. The findings of this paper suggest that boot camps by themselves are not an effective method of intervention. However, more research needs to be done to determine what aspects of the boot camps are effective. Furthermore, when used in conjunction with other interventions such as treatment, boot camps do show some promising results. Future research needs to focus on factors in which led the offender to commit crime in the first place. Future policies also need to consider the fact that boot camps are not a one size fits all approach. The societal factors of the area need to be considered to develop a policy that is best tailored to the community at large.

Author

• Amanda Nicole Gowan, University of Northern Colorado