280 i 0 Corrections and Prison Practices—-Juvenile Forensics
future behavior (Chance, 1988). Therefore, in addition to the specific psychological
needs of status offenders, the removal of these delinquents from juvenile detention
facilities is offered as a means to curb their recidivism. The current trend, however,
is either to incarcerate the individual, despite laws which prohibit such action, or
to place the juvenile in a residential program in which treatment supposedly exists,
although the nature and extent of the treatment is extremely deficient.
Forensic Psychology and Policy Implications
There are a number of policy implications regarding the incarceration and handling
of status offenders. It is clear that the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preven-
tion Act established in 1974 sought to end the incarceration of status offenders
in detention facilities. Moreover, the Act encouraged viewing status offenders and
delinquents separately in that status offenders were troubled youths in need of spe-
cial services, while delinquents were those in need of punishment for committing
criminal behaviors. It is particularly telling that, although a law exists which man-
dates the deinstitutionalization of status offenders from secure detention facilities,
approximately one in four status offenders remains incarcerated. The fact that the
federal government's legislation is not being carried out illustrates that significant
policy reforms are needed. Moreover, the purpose of deinstitutionalizing status of-
fenders was to provide the special psychological services these individual youths
needed. Research has shown that even when deinstitutionalization is successfully
implemented, the treatment services are severely lacking. Thus, it appears that the
]JDP Act has not been successful in accomplishing its desired goals for status of-
fenders.
Suggestions for Future ResearchRecent psychological and criminological literature in the area of status offenders,
and specifically regarding the incarceration of status offenders, is relatively sparse.
Studies need to be conducted comparing status offenders who receive treatment
with those who do not. A shared goal among those who oppose and those who
support the incarceration of status offenders is the reduction of future offenses. With
this in mind comparative studies are essential to making a determination about what
action best curbs recidivism. In a similar fashion, those status offenders who have
been incarcerated need to be evaluated against those who have not, particularly in
terms of subsequent commission of offenses. Recidivism among status offenders
needs to be explored in a twofold manner. Those who reoffend with subsequent
status offenses need to be compared to those who subsequently commit more serious
or violent offenses. An additional area of research pertains to the families of status
offenders. Most individuals within the mental health and criminal justice fields