Research Proposal
Research Proposal
Research Proposal
Forrest Rhoads
Professor Jessica Alzen
California Baptist University
English 123
20 May 2017
Research Proposal
In the United States, there are over 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in our jails,
state and federal prisons, and youth detention centers. According to Peter Wagner, the Executive
Director of Prison Policy, juveniles total 34 thousand of this total number. Although people may
argue that juveniles need to be incarcerated to pay for their crimes. This research proposal is to
demonstrate that the United States needs to have and use more treatment programs to rehabilitate
youth within our nation. First, I will review the sources and research I have found. Next, I will
review the history of why so many juveniles are incarcerated within the United States. Third, I
will propose solutions on how to lower juvenile populations within the justice system. Lastly, I
will demonstrate a working thesis that will allow further research on juvenile rehabilitation.
To find credible research I used California Baptist University Online Library to find
scholarly articles to include in my research paper. Students were instructed to find eight to ten
sources that were related to Mass Incarceration in the United States but with a more specific
topic. I chose to do research and write about treatment for juveniles instead of punishment. I then
sorted the articles into the most important to describe how treatment is effective and helps
juveniles. One of the articles I chose was written by Michael Caldwell and Gregory Rybroek for
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. The article titled Reducing Violence in Serious
Juvenile Offenders Using Intensive Treatment is about finding alternative treatment methods to
reduce violent offenses. Psychologist and trained personal give the juveniles Aggression
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Replacement Training (A.R.T) which teaches pro-social skills, anger control, and how to make
better decisions. A statistic in the study by Caldwell and Van Rybroek explains that, Untreated
comparison youth appeared to be about twice as likely to commit violent offenses as were treated
youth (44% vs. 23%) (Caldwell, Van Rybroek). Another important article is a meta-analysis
which is constructed through multiple case studies. It measures the effectiveness of residential
treatment facilities for juveniles that have committed crimes. For example, All meta-analysis
reported positive mean effect sizes, with d statistics varying from 0.09 to 0.31, and an average
Violent Behavior). This study proved that the false statement of nothing works needs to be
replaced with a more positive connotation. The term Nothing Works is referring to juveniles
that have had a violent past and have been deemed untreatable. This article is important because
it shows that Europe is using treatment programs to rehabilitate their inmates and the effects are
working. Therefore, prison populations are lower in Europe than the United States. The United
States used to be the only country that sentenced adolescents to life in prison, but has since
changed laws.
Next, I will discuss a brief overview of the history of the current issues that the United
States has on juvenile incarceration. This history section is to inform readers of how any why we
got to this current state and issue. Many states have passed bills that allow prosecutors to skip
juvenile court and have a trial as an adult, these youths are referred to as direct filed. For
example, Juveniles 14 years of age or older charged with committing certain types of murder or
a serious sex offense, under Prop 21, are generally no longer eligible for juvenile court and
prosecutors are allowed to directly file charges against juvenile offenders in adult court for a
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that(Ballotpeda). Juvenile miss the opportunity of their rights to due process and do not even get
to see a judge in juvenile court. A juvenile judge should have to fully review the case and
determine if it get passed to adult court. According to Ballotpeda.org fiscal impact from The
California Legislative Analysts Office this proposition cost the state $750 million dollars and
has an annual cost of more than $330 million. It would also cost local counties more than ten
million up to $100 million and $200 to $300 up front cost. This funding would allow the state
and he juvenile court to expand treatment facilities and incorporate new programs. This is a
turning point in juvenile incarceration, because institution population has continued to increase
since the 1980s. An article from the Prison Policy Initiative titled The Whole Pie 2017 by Peter
Wagner and Bemadett Rabuy states that 34 thousand youth are locked up nationwide, 4,500
youth are locked up in adult prisons and 20 thousand are healed by the juvenile justice system in
residential facilities. This article found from the juvenile court Statistics from 2003 that This
whole pie methodology also exposes some disturbing facts about the youth entrapped in our
juvenile justice system: Too many are there for a most serious offense that is not even a crime.
For example, there are almost 7,000 youth behind bars for technical violations of the
requirements of their probation, rather than for a new offense. Further, 600 youth are behind bars
for status offenses, which are behaviors that are not law violations for adults, such as running
away, truancy, and incorrigibility (Ruby, Wagner. 2017). In my opinion, detaining youth in
detention facilities when they have not committed a crime should be banned from all states.
Laws and propositions need to be changed to allow youth to be able to have a chance to change
To limit juvenile incarnation the government needs to standardize and use treatment to
multisystem therapies are being used today to treat juveniles for multiple cases or crimes but
space is limited because of funding. Intensive institutional treatment use A.R.T. This is
conducted by teaching pro-social skills, anger control techniques, and how to make moral and
mature decisions. It is conducted by a mental health therapist with the help of the institution
staff. Multisystem therapies include Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, teaching family
and life skill training to teach you ethical and more moral decisions. These programs are being
used in some counties such as Riverside, California. The Riverside County Probation
Department is opening the Alan M. Crogan Youth Treatment and Education Center (YTEC) in
summer, 2017. This facility will offer Social Awareness Programs, pro-social activities,
community involvement, and family reunification. All of these things help to reintroduce
incarcerated youth back into the community. To fully evaluate this solution, I will need to
research how much it costs to house juveniles per year and how much treatment programs will
Given that Juvenile incarceration is at and an all-time high since the early 2000s because
of bills that have been passed by the government and our nation. I will argue that treatment is a
better solution and must be used when it comes to juveniles instead of locking them away. A
study by The National Institute of Justice has been done to truly see what age limit adolescents
stop committing crime and the results show that it is in ones early 20s. Some scholars believe
that the human brain is not fully developed until this time. Although people may argue that they
need to answer for their crimes, their lives have just begun and they have a long time to answer
for them. Incarceration especially in an adult prison or jail for juveniles has also been proven to
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worsen youth and cause them to commit more and worse crimes. I believe that rehabilitation
programs and treatment will give us the most change and move or nation into a more positive
direction.
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Works Cite
Caldwell, Michael F. and Gregory J. Van Rybroek. "Reducing Violence in Serious Juvenile
Offenders Using Intensive Treatment." International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol.
Treatment_of_Juvenile_Offenders_(2000)
Grietens, Hans and Walter Hellinckx. "Evaluating Effects of Residential Treatment for Juvenile
Ruby, Wagner. Prison Policy Initiative Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017 Web.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html