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Impact of the YCA Action Plan on Institution Environments

NCJ Number
104479
Author(s)
L C Weber; T R Kane; N A Miller
Date Published
1983
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A 1980-1982 study examined the impact of the implementation of the Youth Corrections Act (YCA) action plan on the institutional climate and management of three facilities: Englewood, N.J.; and Morgantown and Petersburg, W. Va.
Abstract
The YCA is based on the premise that youthful offenders have greater rehabilitative potential and are more malleable than older, more hardened offenders. Detention orders, visitation rates, administrative remedies, incident reports, inmate misconduct, program enrollments, and positive urine tests were among indicators compared for the three all-YCA institutions and for three non-YCA institutions. Analysis of data indicates that the percentage of YCA offenders in a facility was positively and significantly related to all of the following indicators: escapes, inmate/inmate assaults, total assaults, administrative detention orders for protective purposes and due to threats, overall administrative detention orders, incident reports (overall and at individual security levels), educational and vocational program enrollments, and total program enrollments. Only visitation rates showed decreases with increases in the percentage of the YCA population. Findings are discussed in terms of rehabilitation, criminal sophistication, violence, age-blending, and normalization. (Author abstract modified)