NCJ Number
134645
Date Published
1991
Length
294 pages
Annotation
Between 1970 and 1972, Jerome Miller, the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services closed all seven of the State's reform schools. Nearly all juvenile offenders were returned to community supervision and treatment by private schools and youth service agencies.
Abstract
Although Miller was forced to resign in the wake of the controversy surrounding the closures, Massachusetts still has no reform schools and its juvenile recidivism rates continue to decline. This deinstitutionalization program is different from others in that resources follow the inmates to the communities and alternative programs are reserved for the most difficult inmates in the system. According to the author, the Massachusetts experiment demonstrates that corrections, both juvenile and adult, needs to move away from deterrence and punishment to unconditioned care, compassion, and understanding.