Pilgrim Center Case Study

To help measure the success of its program, medical management of the Pilgrim Center decided to evaluate 162 residents of its programs, both adolescent and adult, who left the facility between 1976 and 1995.This private residential treatment facility provides beds to 24 patients. It operates under contract with the Department of Youth Services (DYS). During its years of providing services to adolescents, the Pilgrim Center implemented a number of positive and productive components that provide services to juvenile delinquents and their families. Mandatory therapy is required for all residents and their families. There is also a special-needs school on the grounds that include vocational shops in automotive repair, woodworking, and a community

Chronic offenders (four arrests prior to commitment to Pilgrim Center) made up 59% percent of the sample. When the program was analyzed, management said there was a savings of $18,690,728 when juvenile offenders stayed in their program for slightly less than a year (McMackin, Tansi, & Lafratta, 2004). Evidence proved the cost of the Pilgrim program was effective for the offenders because their chances of recidivism was lessened.

Research regarding recidivism is usually conducted on male participants who have only committed minor offenses or researchers have gone to the extreme and surveyed those with major offenses. Because more females are in the juvenile offender pool, more research must be done to clarify risk factors for both male and female juveniles in the area of delinquency and recidivism. In this study, education, demographics, and offense patterns of a group of different male and female adolescents. They were 3,287 males and females from Arizona and were selected to help determine whether gender differences existed and could factors be predicted based on their gender (Thompson & Morris, 22013). In these cases, researchers found significant differences in risk factors. However, the academic achievement did not demonstrate a tendency for recidivism, regardless of gender. Surprisingly, both men and women demonstrated emotional disabilities, which indicated

A new emerging academic field called Disability Studies explores the synergism of social, political, and cultural forces upon the personal experience of disability through an empower-ment and communicative approach (Williams, 2005). Research on juvenile offenders indicated that a large percentage of this group shows signs of cognitive impairment, psychiatric or emotional disorders, and learning disabilities. In addition, there is often little awareness among juvenile detention center staff members of how to correctly – or willing – handle individuals with disabilities. These circumstances indicate that juvenile detention centers could greatly benefit from the introduction of Disability Studies training and methodology. Statistics and facts from this literature review document the high numbers of juvenile offenders who have medical diagnosis for some type of disability or they exhibit symptoms of intelligence disability with no official diagnosis These phenomena places unique demands on the staff and personnel of prisons as they seek to serve these