272 H^1 (Corrections and Prison Practices—Juvenile Forensicsenvironment in society. Learning theory maintains that it is essential for a behavior
to be performed in one's natural environment for a permanent change in conduct
to occur. Furthermore, Correia (1997) explains that criminal behavior is strongly
influenced by environmental factors. Thus, if changes are not made to an indi-
vidual's natural environment, any progress made while at boot camp is unlikely to
continue postrelease. In the case of Johnny, it is unlikely that any of his progress
made at boot camp will present and sustain itself in his home environment. Within
the first 2 hours of being released, Johnny's life returned to what it was prior to his
participation in the boot-camp program.
According to Peterson (1996), differences between boot-camp participants and
control-group participants did emerge in various arenas. Substantial improvement:
in academic achievement occurred among participants in the boot-camp program.
On average, youths increased their achievement scores in reading, language, spell-
ing, and math by at least one academic grade level. Moreover, a significantly higher
number of graduates from the boot-camp program became employed while in
aftercare. Aftercare is a dimension of the program that follows one's participation in
the residential component of the boot camp and entails stringent monitoring for 6
to 9 months in the community.
In order to ensure maximum effectiveness of boot-camp programs, target pop-
ulations are selected for participation. The criteria initially established included
juvenile males who did not have violent criminal histories. Most juveniles who
were selected for such programs had been convicted of property or drug offenses.
Therefore, the applicability of boot camps was purposefully limited. The OJJDP
maintains that the boot camp focus remains within the rehabilitation model of the
juvenile justice system. The lack of positive results emerging from recidivism studies
begs the question: Are boot camps truly serving their rehabilitative function?
Forensic Psychology and Policy ImplicationsMillions of dollars a year are used in funding the development of new boot-camp
programs for juvenile offenders each year. With such an investment, it is imper-
ative that programs provide the rehabilitation services they propose. Psychologists
have acquired a great deal of knowledge in terms of the family environment and
the psychological characteristics of the offender that lead to subsequent delin-
quency Given this knowledge, it is apparent that boot-camp programs do not
fully address the complexity of the issues involved in juvenile criminality. The en-
vironment to which the adolescent will return postrelease from the boot camp is
lacking in attention. Developmental theory shows us that children do not adapt
well to drastic changes in their environment. This is exactly what occurs when
a child does not receive any means of discipline in the home, aside from per-
haps physical abuse (as in the case of Johnny), and then is placed in a militaris-
tic, rigid environment for 90 days. When 3 months have elapsed, the child is