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Molly Engels

Mr. Rudebusch

English Composition IV

8 January 2019

Where to Send Juvenile Delinquents Based on Their Specific Needs?

In 2016 alone, 63% of juveniles were put on probation, 26% were put in placement, and

11% were placed in another sanction. Of those kids, 8% of them were under the age of 13, 24%

were ages 13-14, 21% were 15, 25% were 16, and 23% were 17 (Puzzanchera). When youths

pay for crime by being incarcerated, taxpayers, too, bear some of the burden. Locking up a

juvenile costs states an average of $407.58 per person per day, $36,682 per three months,

$73,364 per six months, and $148,767 per year, according to a new report by the Justice Policy

Institute. Some may argue that too much money is being spent on sending these individuals to

these specialized programs. However, this money we are spending through taxes is crucial to the

juvenile delinquent who is being sent to a specialized program.

There are specialized programs to help those who commit the crime of theft. According

to the US National Library of Medicine website, in people aged one to seventeen, there are 7.6

arrests per 100,000 people. That’s a pretty small number, and we should keep it that way. We

should continue to send those who commit those types of crimes to a specialized program after

their first serious offense to prevent this type of crime happening again, or an even worse crime;

one such program from South Dakota Department of Corrections is Woodward Academy in

Woodward, Iowa. Woodward Academy’s team consists of nine therapists, six Family Behavioral
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Health Intervention Services Counselors (BHIS), nine Individual BHIS Counselors, eight

Residential Treatment Centers, and nine Case Managers. These specific types of specialized help

will ensure that the juveniles get all of the correct help they need to get better. Woodward

Academy accepts both boys and girls ages twelve-eighteen into their program. The juvenile

delinquents will go to school from nine to three every day, Monday through Friday. Other than

school, they are allowed to do extra curricular activities, work (if cleared to work), or

counseling/classes for whatever crime they are in for. Just think, if you sent a juvenile to jail

instead of sending them to a specialized program, they wouldn’t get the schooling they need.

Sending a juvenile to a specialized program will allow the juvenile to get better, while still

continuing school so they don’t end up behind when they get out. For a juvenile that has

committed theft, he/she would most likely go through some kind of therapy, whether it is

individual, group or even family therapy. In therapy, their goal is to help the students unlearn

their unwanted reactions and to learn new ways of responding to problems. This has four phases:

exploring areas of victim empathy, taking responsibility for their actions, learning alternatives to

their behaviors, and to relapse prevention (“Woodward Academy Knights”). If these kids who

are known to steal are just put back into society after committing the crime, they will ultimately

be costing society more money than it would cost to send the delinquent to a specialized

program. Therefore, helping these kids now, saves the court system a lot of time and money.

There are specialized programs that are designed to help those who have committed the

crime of assault. According to Legal Dictionary website, this year, the police have arrested 182

violent juvenile offenders for every 100,000 juveniles. That’s a bigger number than the number

of kids arrested for theft, but it is still a fairly small total number. Because this is a bigger offense
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and has more offenders, it has two placement options instead of one. The first place is Aurora

Plains. Aurora Plains Academy is an intensive residential treatment facility in Plankinton, South

Dakota. Aurora Plains is allowed sixty- six youth:. forty-five beds for boys and eighteen beds for

girls. Children aged ten through twenty are eligible for placement here, and should have a

documented, chronic, history of high level physical or sexual aggression.They want to make sure

the juveniles that come here have those types of aggression, so they know exactly what the

juvenile needs help with and they know how to target the problem and make sure it is resolved.

At Aurora Plains, the aggressive juveniles go through therapy such as family or group therapy. In

family therapy, they transport residents to home community for on-site family therapy location,

family therapy with a provider based in their home community that they can remain with after

discharge, video conferencing, speaker phone family therapy, assistance in transportation costs

of the family to the Academy location. Being with their family really helps many juveniles. They

feel the safest when they are with them, and will be more likely to be able to talk about all of

their problems and what they want to do about their problem. Group therapy is a bit different. It

includes teaching appropriate social skills and opportunities to improve peer relationships,

relationship problems and proper ways to give feedback and resolve conflict, anger control, self

awareness and assertiveness, taking responsibility for oneself, at risk behavior (drug and alcohol

use), divorce and family relationships and independent living skills (“Aurora Plains Academy”).

Group therapy is a very important type of therapy for those in specialized programs. It not only

helps the juvenile to deal with their issues and how to resolve them, but it also helps them see

that there are other people out there just like them that are dealing with the same thing.
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The second place the DOC would send a kid that has committed the crime of theft would

be Turtle Creek. According to their page on the SD Department of Human Resources website,

Turtle creek serves 40 school-aged girls and boys who are no younger than ten years nor older

than twenty-one years of age at the time of admission. This program provides year-round

educational and residential treatment programming. The Redfield Public School provides the

educational program, with the school providing the teaching staff and a support staff. Just like

many of the other specialized programs, school is offered. School is very important in this

facility. It is year-round so the juveniles are sure to finish their schooling. Besides school, the

juveniles are offered family, group and individual counseling. All three of them work to increase

the youth’s understanding of how his/her behavior affects his/herself and others, helping the

person to learn to accept responsibility for their behavior, aiding the person to learn appropriate

need meeting behaviors to replace those that are inappropriate, returning the person to their home

community as a responsible person, able to make appropriate choices for their behavior and to

function as a productive member of the family and the community.Therefore, if we help these

juveniles now, they are much less likely to be incarcerated later in life.

There are specialized programs to send those who have had trouble with abusing drugs.

According to US National Library of Medicine, there were 283.5 arrests per 100,000 juveniles

aged ten-seventeen. This is a more common crime than assault and theft, but it is still a pretty

low number compared to the total number of juveniles. The DOC has found three places where

we could send those who have suffered from drug abuse or drug use. Those programs are;

Aurora Plains, Our Home, and WellFully. Aurora Plains has a treatment program called Alcohol

and other drug abuse (AODA) that is provided as the need is identified. The juveniles and the
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counselors utilize a twelve-step model in the daily group therapy. According to the American

Addiction Center, the twelve-step model is

One: Admitting powerlessness over the addiction. Two: Believing that a

higher power (in whatever form) can help. Three: Deciding to turn control over

to the higher power. Four: Taking a personal Inventory. Five: Admitting to the

higher power, oneself, and another person the wrongs done. Six: Being ready to

have the higher power correct any shortcomings in one’s character. Seven: Asking

the higher power to remove those shortcomings. Eight: Making a list of wrongs

done to others and being willing to make amends for those wrongs. Nine:

Contacting those who have been hurt, unless doing so would harm the person.

Ten: Continuing to take personal inventory and admitting when one is wrong.

Eleven: Seeking enlightenment and connection with the higher power via prayer

and meditation. Twelve: Carrying the message of the twelve steps to the others in

need.

This twelve step model is used universally for just about any kind of drug or alcohol problems

you have and is used a lot in rehab. At Aurora Plains the individual relapse prevention plans are

developed with the resident as they approach discharge. These plans are created after the release

date is set. The plans are filled with many things they will need to remember and are filled with

things they need to refer from doing to prevent relapse. Our Home treatment facilities are

located in Huron and Parkston, South Dakota and are licensed for a total of ninety-two juveniles.

Those who suffer from drug abuse go through what is called Rediscovery drug and alcohol

treatment, which is a treatment that includes the twelve step method groups, alcoholics
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anonymous, and narcotic anonymous groups within a therapeutic milieu (OurHome).These types

of things will help the juveniles learn the consequences of what they did and how bad it is for

them. Although most kids don’t care the consequences of their actions, going to these classes

daily will help the juveniles start to care. The last place you could send those who suffer from

drug abuse would be WellFully. According to their website, it is the only residential group care

home and residential addiction recovery program for adolescents in Western South Dakota.

Those who are addicted to drugs only have this place to be sent, therefore, the money that is

spent in taxes on sending these Those that suffer from addiction go through addiction recovery

where they receive education and coping skills for life. These juveniles who suffer from drug

abuse need this type of help before they go too far with drug abuse to the point where it’s too

late. Treating these juvenile’s well will save your time and money, and not only that could save

heartbreak for everyone down the road.

There are places to send those who committed the crime of rape/sexual offense.

According to the US National Library of Medicine, there were 7.6 arrests per 100,000 people

aged one to seventeen for rape/sexual assault. This is the most serious offense of all of the crimes

talked about today, so that is why it has the most placement options. The placement options are:

Benchmark Behavioral Health, McCrossan Boys Ranch, Woodward Academy, and OurHome.

Benchmark Behavioral Health offers treatment for a variety of psychiatric and behavioral

disorders including conduct disorder, sexual disorders/sexual misconduct issues, fetal alcohol

spectrum disorders, Asperger’s disorder, developmental disorders, mood disorders, anxiety

disorders, personality disorders, and substance abuse issues for young adult males ages thirteen

to twenty. According to the Benchmark website, those who are in placement here for rape/sexual
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offense will go through Behavioral Misconduct Treatment. There are three phases of this

treatment. In the Red Phase, the patients learn certain concepts and terminology in preparing

them to understand how these thinking errors and denials played a role in their own

offending/behavior problems. The Yellow Phase is designed to help the patient understand how

they used these concepts in their own lives and increasing personal disclosure. Lastly, the Green

Phase helps patients take accountability for what they have done in order to make better choices

for their future.

The next place you could send those who commit the crime of rape/sexual assault is

McCrossan Boys Ranch. According to the McCrossan Boys Ranch website, McCrossan Boys

Ranch is a non-profit organization in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that reaches out to troubled boys

between the ages of nine to twenty who have experienced conflict in their lives. Those who are

sent here because of rape/sexual assault go through sexual misconduct treatment, daily recreation

therapy group, community integration, and community outreach program. The sexual

misconduct treatment is comprised of four distinct phases in treatment. The phases have unique

names, which reinforce the Space Shuttle metaphor and the concept that the patient will be

engaging on a new but rewarding journey in his life. The four phases of this treatment are

Preflight, Begin Mission, Lunar Landing and Return to Earth. The daily recreation group therapy

is based on resiliency skills and attitudes of the boys including values orientation, initiative,

independence, creativity, insight, humor, and relationships. To integrate these boys back into the

community, they have weekly outings that focus on leisure awareness. They also do activities

such as river rafting, lake/water sports, ropes course, snowboarding, cross country skiing, and pet

therapy. The last thing they do at McCrossan’s for the troubled boys is the community outreach
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program. For this, the boys work at local food pantries, serve at a local animal shelter, aid

charities that benefit the regional Children’s Hospital. Doing these types of activities help the

troubled teens get back into the swing of how society works. The activities that they do help

them work with others, communicate with others, and go out where there are many people and

have a good time. The community outreach program helps the boys work with people again and

see how their good actions really benefit themselves and others. Woodward Academy and

OurHome do very similar things for those who have raped or sexually assaulted someone. The

juveniles go through group/individual/family counseling where they address their sexual

behavior problems in a normal treatment setting, focus on reducing the risk of reoffense, and to

have each adolescent learn to understand and manage their sexual abusive behavior.

In conclusion, the extra money taxpayers have to pay to send these juveniles to

specialized care is beneficial. As you can see, there are many places out there that help those

juveniles that have committed serious crimes. If a juvenile committed the crime of theft, you

could send them to places such as: Woodward Academy. If a juvenile committed the crime of

assault, you could send them to: Aurora Plains or Turtle Creek. If a juvenile committed the crime

of drug abuse, you could send them to: Aurora Plains, OurHome, or WellFully. Lastly, if the

juvenile committed the crime of rape/sexual offense, you could send them to: Benchmark,

McCrossan Boys Ranch, WoodWard Academy, and OurHome. Next time you pay extra tax

dollars, don’t complain about it about those whom you are paying extra taxes for, know that you

are helping a juvenile recover in the specialized programs they are being sent to and will leave

the program an overall better citizen.

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Works Cited

“Applications Are Now Being Accepted for the 2019 Round of WellFully Scholarships!”

Wellfully​, wellfully.org/.

Benchmark. “Benchmark Behavioral Health.” ​Benchmark Behavioral Health,​

www.bbhsnet.com/​.

Clinicare. “Welcome.” ​Aurora Plains Academy | Intensive Residental Treatment |

Plankinton, SD​, ​www.clinicarecorp.com/aurora-plains/​.

“Juvenile Snapshots.” ​Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program,​

www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/snapshots/DataSnapshot_JCS2015.pdf​.

Snyder, H N. “The Juvenile Court and Delinquency Cases.” ​Current Neurology and

Neuroscience Reports.,​ U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1996,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9117366​.

“Ourhome2018.” ​ourhome2018​, ​www.ourhomeinc.org/​.

Provide Opportunities for Children and Youth​, ​www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/qa05101.asp​.

SD Department of Human Services,​ dhs.sd.gov/developmentalcenter/turtlecreek.aspx.

“Sioux Falls, SD - Non Profit : Home.” ​McCrossan Boys Ranch​, ​www.mccrossan.org/​.

Thomas, Scot. “12 Step Programs for Drug Rehab & Alcohol Treatment.” ​American Addiction

Centers​, americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/12-step.

“What Youth Incarceration Costs Taxpayers.” ​U.S. News & World Report,​ U.S. News & World\

Report,​www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/12/09/what-youth-incarceration-co

sts-taxp​Ayers

Woodward Academy,​ ​www.wwacademy.com/​.

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