Incarceration ot Status Offenders 277Suggestions for Future Research
Over the past 3 decades, research on adolescent suicide in the general population has
expanded; however, relatively scant research exists which examines suicidal ideation
and behavior among incarcerated adolescents. Suicide prevention programs need
to be designed and implemented in juvenile detention facilities. Moreover, these
programs need to be empirically studied in order to determine the proper method
of identifying those individuals in need, as well as the location and time for the
prevention program to be most beneficial. Incarcerated settings for juveniles that
have crisis intervention and regular psychological services need to be compared
with those that do not offer such assistance. Furthermore, studying the similarities
and differences among adolescents who attempt or commit suicide within an in-
carceration facility with those who engage in suicidal behavior in the community
would help provide a more thorough understanding of what treatment needs best
serve this vulnerable population.
Incarceration of Status Offenders
Introduction
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 1994 Uniform Crime Re-
port, approximately 237,000 juveniles under the age of 18 were arrested for sta-
tus offenses. A status offense is any offense that is committed by a juvenile that
would not constitute an offense if committed by an adult. Examples of such of-
fenses include running away from home, curfew violation, truancy from school,
and out-of-parental-control. In 1994, approximately 152,000 children were ar-
rested for running away from home. With the great number of juveniles en-
gaging in this behavior, the question that arises is whether these children are
better dealt with through the juvenile justice system or by mental health pro-
fessionals. Historically, the criminal justice system has dealt with status offenders
in the same manner in which other juvenile offenders have been handled. For
this reason, juveniles who run away from home are oftentimes incarcerated in the
same secure detention facilities as juveniles who commit more serious and vio-
lent crimes. However, by definition, status offenders have no victims, and in fact
their crimes would not even be illegal except by a function of the individual's
age. Many in the mental health profession believe that a more appropriate method
of dealing with status offenders is to provide psychological services to the juve-
nile and to his or her family as opposed to incarceration. Congress has enacted
laws which require the deinstitutionalization of status offenders; however, despite
such movements, thousands of juveniles continue to be incarcerated for status of-
fenses.