Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders: Individual Outcome and System Effects

Abstract

In recent years there have been widespread attempts to remove juvenile status offenders from secure detention and correctional facilities. These efforts have been in response to claims that status offenders do not represent a significant danger to the community and that incarceration of them is unwarranted. This article summarizes findings from the evaluation of a statewide program, designed as part of a national deinstitutionalization strategy, that provided alternatives to secure detention for status offenders between the time of arrest and court appearance. It focuses on factors affecting both the youths themselves and the responses of the juvenile justice and public social service systems to the alternatives program. In particular, the effects of secure detention and alternatives to detention on youths' subsequent behavior are compared. In addition, data are provided concerning status offenders' careers and the ability of the deinstitutionalization strategy to divert youths from the juvenile justice and social service systems.