Bootcamps

Juvenile boot camps started in 1985 in Louisiana. They were a spin-off mostly for the young men who failed probation. Certain criminals did’nt qualify for the military like program. Criminals like sex offenders, and other violent crimes. The duriation time for boot camps are 90-120 days. Drill instructors, officers and sergeants are in charge of correcting these young men’s lives. The prisoners are issued work details just like regular inmates in normal jails and prisons. Education is available and boot campers are force to attend classes of some sort.  Most camps prepare the campers for jobs upon release. Boot camps were once a great idea, “so it was thought’. But it is quite clear now that boot camp alternatives does not reduce crimes in the youth department. Maybe only a small percentage of young criminals make a change in their life after attending boot camps in the United States. After being verbally harrassed and called all kinds of names, not to mention being ordered to do things by some one other than their mother or father, is a good reason for a young teen to feel revengeful in certain circumstances after they are home. This could cause them to be repeat offenders. With all the military discipline that they are forced to do, it seems like to me that the government should have produced some kind of program for these nonviolent inmates with the Army, Navy or Marines, that could make them productive and possibly land a future for them in the Armed Forces. After all, they are still young teenagers with a bright future who only committed a almost petty crime. Why can’t they give the young children a positive chance?