The Computerization of Juvenile Correction

Abstract

This article discusses the characteristics of the computer resource, especially its application in testing the status of the indeterminate sentence, historically associated with the juve nile justice system. Two related studies of the indeterminate sentence are summarized. The first investigates a computer analysis of factors related to institutional stay in thirty states; the second focuses on Ohio's juvenile population. The most salient national findings were the following: (1) Regardless of an institution's size, parole board status, and type of diagnostic classification system, no statistical significant difference in length of institutional stay was observed. (2) Given offender characteristics such as offense and sex, no significant varia tion in stay was demonstrated; however, there was a pattern of detaining status offenders longer than youth committed on felony index crimes and confining males longer than females. (3) While 65 per cent of the states reported having in-house computer capability, only 16 per cent documented length of institutional stay by offender characteristics. In the Ohio study, the major finding was that "younger" and "least dangerous" were characteristics associated with longer stay. Finally, specific measures adopted in Ohio to protect adjudi cated deliquents against the abuses of the indeterminate sentence are outlined.