NCJ Number
134649
Date Published
1991
Length
75 pages
Annotation
These six chapters describe the alternative system to juvenile justice created in Massachusetts by former Commissioner of Department of Youth Services Jerome Miller. He based his program of deinstitutionalization on the assumption that resources must be reallocated from the institutions to the community-based programs which accept the released inmates.
Abstract
The deinstitutionalization of the State's seven reform schools is described in the context of budget politics, staff resistance, press coverage, and the debate over privatization versus State operation. Miller discusses the various community-based alternatives that the Department pursued including halfway houses, home probation, therapeutic communities, and other models of adolescent treatment. Miller discusses the handling of violent juvenile offenders in the Massachusetts system, the effect of his program on county training schools, and the political backlash. The author presents the accomplishments of his reforms in the context of recidivism and impact on youth crime rates.