Youth Boot Prisons

Youth boot camps are a controversial topic, with arguments being made both for and against the use and effectiveness of such programs in the Justice System. In Australia, the Queensland government is considering pursuing the idea of youth boot camps in the hope that it will help in the reduction of youth offending. This essay will determine whether Queensland should follow other countries such as the United States, where youth boot camps are both popular and vastly used. A brief history of youth boot camps in the United States and the main goals that these camps set out to achieve will be firstly discussed. Secondly, the essay will examine the level of effectiveness of these camps in reducing youth offending, and also whether they are an efficient and cost effective method. Finally, both rational choice theory and labelling theory will be applied to further prove that such boot camps in Queensland will not have much effect in reducing recidivism by youth offenders. …show more content…
Shock incarceration involves a short period of confinement while being exposed to a demanding regimen of strict discipline, military style drill and ceremony, physical exercise and physical labour (Klein n.d.). In the state of Florida in the United States of America the method of boot camps as incarceration for adults has been used since 1983 (Klein, n.d.). The Department of Corrections Florida had followed in the footsteps of Ohio another state in the USA after they passed an initial shock incarceration in 1965 for adults (Petersilia, 2008). Youth boot camps are still fairly new and from time to time become controversial, with mixed opinions arising toward the effectiveness of the correctional method of boot camps for young offenders (Klein,