Privatization of juvenile facilities and services has been the norm since the inception of the juvenile justice system. However, little research has been performed examining the impact of privatization on juvenile justice, despite the possible repercussions of this policy for the juveniles served. Prior research on privatization in other fields has tended to find a connection between privatization and outcomes; however, very little research has examined how privatization impacts operations, how operations impact recidivism, and how privatization and operations interact to produce juvenile justice outcomes. This exploratory study, informed by cybernetic systems theory and principal-agent theory, examined the mechanism by which privatization influences juvenile recidivism by exploring the possible mediating effect of facility operations. Using annual juvenile facility evaluation and recidivism data collected by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice through 548 evaluations performed on 158 facilities from 2003-2006, this research examined whether facility operations mediated the relationship between ownership (public, for-profit, and non-profit) and juvenile recidivism. Multilevel analyses were completed using Stata software to account for the clustered nature of the data (facilities nested within provider companies). The results from multilevel regression analyses indicated no relationship between ownership type and either operations or recidivism. However, multilevel regression analyses indicated significant inverse relationships between recidivism and each of four of the operational variables: program management, health care services, security, and intervention management. A mediating relationship was not supported. Results also indicated that both provider company and characteristics of the juveniles served were significant predictors of both operational variables and recidivism. These results suggest that privatization concerns may be more suitably focused on identifying the appropriate provider company rather than on choosing the appropriate ownership type. In addition, during the contract negotiation stage, juvenile justice administrators may wish to incorporate policies and/or incentives into the contract that are related to juvenile characteristics. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.

<p><strong>Objectives:</strong> Compared to youth without justice-involvement, justice-involved youth are more likely to experience substance use disorders. Yet, few justice-involved youth receive appropriate, evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders. Although there are numerous barriers to the accessibility of appropriate treatment, research also suggests that it is difficult to engage justice-involved youth in treatment even when it is available and accessible. It is possible that substance use disorder stigma, or negative attitudes towards youth with substance use disorders, may contribute to low treatment accessibility, and make it more difficult for justice-involved youth to engage with available treatment. Few researchers have examined substance use disorder stigma among this population. The purpose of this study was to 1) explore the nature of substance use disorder stigma among justice-involved youth, at multiple ecological levels and 2) examine the role of substance use disorder stigma in limiting the accessibility of and engagement in treatment and justice-involved youth’s engagement in treatment. </p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> Participants (n = 44 youth-guardian dyads) were referred to the study by juvenile probation departments in two Indiana counties. In addition, 66 system personnel participants who work with justice-involved youth with substance use disorders were recruited from community mental health centers and juvenile probation departments in rural and suburban Indiana counties. All participants completed survey measures of substance use disorder stigma and familiarity with substance use; youth-guardian dyads also provided information about the youth’s substance use history and treatment utilization. A subset of participants (n = 9 youth, 11 guardians, 12 system personnel) completed qualitative interviews, providing perspectives on substance use disorder stigma and the role of stigma in discouraging treatment. Using analysis of covariance, multiple regression analyses, and qualitative grounded theory analysis, I explored the nature of stigma toward justice-involved youth with substance use disorders and examined the impact of stigma on treatment accessibility and engagement. </p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> For aim 1, as hypothesized, public stigma (assessed by survey data) varied significantly according to participant role and specific substance, with guardians endorsing greater stigma than system personnel. All participants expressed greater negative emotions towards youth with opioid use disorder compared to marijuana use disorder. Interview data revealed particularly nuanced attitudes about marijuana use. Contrary to expectations, youth reported little self-stigma. Both youth and guardians described limited knowledge of problematic substance use. For aim 2, interview data suggests that youth and guardians may identify more stigma associated with seeking treatment for problematic substance use than with using substances. All participants reported that perceived stigma has improved in recent years, and that youth feel more comfortable discussing their substance use. However, guardians identified family attitudes about behavioral health treatment as negatively impacting engagement among youth. In addition, system personnel reported that stigma continues to limit the accessibility of youth SUD treatment.  </p> <p><strong>Discussion:</strong> Youth endorsed lower than expected levels of self-stigma with no difference by primary substance type; this may have been affected by youth’s limited understanding of problematic substance use and lower than expected heterogeneity in substance use type among participants. Consistent with prior research, self-stigma was directly related to the severity of mental health symptoms. The high prevalence of public stigma among guardians of JIY with SUDs suggests that parents and guardians would benefit from interventions to better support their caregiving experiences. All participants identified complex attitudes about marijuana use, suggesting that the increasing public acceptability and endorsement of marijuana as a helpful substance may complicate treatment seeking when use becomes problematic. Although youth did not conceptualize self-stigma as a barrier to treatment, given that the primary substance used in this study was marijuana, these results may be complicated by changing societal attitudes about marijuana in particular. Qualitative perspectives from guardians and system personnel suggest that substance use disorder stigma may limit both the accessibility of treatment and youth’s likelihood to engage with treatment; this may depend on type of substance used. Particularly for the participants in this study, extremely limited treatment accessibility posed the largest barrier to evidence-based substance use disorder treatment for adolescents, making it difficult to accurately assess the role of stigma in actual treatment use. Finally, findings suggest that measuring substance use disorder stigma may be dependent on participants’ ability to accurately identify problematic substance use. It may also be important to refine both qualitative and quantitative measurement of stigma specifically with adolescents. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.</p>

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Thesis advisor: Shanta Pandey / Children in conflict with the law are a significant global concern. Although the actual number of children in conflict with the law globally is unknown, on any day in 2020, approximately 261,200 children were in detention (UNICEF, 2021). HRW (2019) estimates that about 1.5 million children worldwide are detained annually, often illegally and unnecessarily, and deprived of liberty and basic needs. In seven countries in South Asia, about 44,900 children were in detention in 2020, and children can spend considerable time in pre-trial detention in many countries, e.g., 410,000 children were held in remand centers globally in 2018 (UNICEF, 2021). An earlier report highlighted that 59% of children in detention in South Asia had not been tried and sentenced, and pre-trial detention is regularly used as a sanction, violating the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty (UNICEF, 2006). Furthermore, detention conditions are generally sub-standard, overcrowded, and deny children their rights, such as the right to appropriate health and education standards; also, they regularly house children with adults, which increases the risk for violence, abuse, and exploitation (UNICEF, 2006). Notably, higher-quality service delivery corresponds to positive outcomes for vulnerable youths (Sanders et al., 2017). However, many juvenile justice systems overlook these aspects as they are adult-centered and not adapted to the needs and rights of children. Nepal is also increasingly affected by children coming into conflict with the law. The Act Relating to Children, 2018 defines a child as someone who has not completed the age of eighteen. Nepal saw a 118% increase in the number of children in conflict with the law between 2017/18 and 2018/19 (NCRC, 2020) compared to a 70% increase from 2015/16 to 2016/17 (CCWB, 2017). However, juvenile delinquency in Nepal has received little attention from researchers, administrators, and social workers (CWIN, 2013). Furthermore, existing literature on the juvenile justice system in Nepal disproportionately focuses on describing the legal system (see CeLRRD, 2001; Ghimire, 2013; Khatiwada, 2005; Mainali, 2018; Sangroula, 2004; Silwal, 2006) rather than identifying potential entry points for evidence-based systems strengthening. The increase in the number of children in conflict with the law, the identification of multiple issues within the justice system globally, including deprivation of liberty and inadequate services, and an under-exploration of the service delivery within the Nepalese juvenile justice system warrant scholarly attention. This three-paper dissertation investigated the under-researched areas of the Nepalese juvenile justice system to map a comprehensive picture of the extant services and service delivery from the lived experiences and perspectives of the service providers, i.e., the employees of the juvenile justice system, including the juvenile bench workers, and the service users, i.e., children in conflict with the law residing in correctional facilities. The author conducted in-depth interviews with 14 employees working with major organizations in the Nepalese juvenile justice system, 14 social workers assigned to serve on juvenile benches, and 16 youths from correctional facilities. In addition, 150 youths from correctional facilities completed a structured survey. The results illuminated that the Nepalese juvenile justice system struggles to provide adequate services to children in conflict with the law. It exhibited children's unmet survival, protection, participation, and development needs. Employees of the correctional homes and children within them reported several challenges in meeting the food, shelter, health, and education needs of children; children were beaten, threatened, handcuffed, and even abused or exploited by other children within the system; children and young people could not freely express themselves and were not heard in matters affecting their everyday lives; and children had limited opportunities for skill development. The agency representatives of the juvenile justice system identified inadequate budget and meagre infrastructure and professionals as the major challenges in service delivery. Social workers on the juvenile benches expressed that the benches did not function as provisioned in The Act Relating to Children, 2018 since social workers rarely shared the bench with the judge, child-friendly infrastructures were largely absent and underused when present, the judges were inadequately trained, and social workers were not paid for their services or were underpaid. The findings also revealed serious well-being concerns for children in the Nepalese juvenile justice system, including inappropriate treatment and delayed or denied justice. The respondents’ suggestions to improve service delivery with the Nepalese juvenile justice system included immediately separating the youths from children; setting up standards for operating juvenile correctional homes; expanding and strengthening the homes, including increasing the daily allowances and allocating a separate budget for health; ensuring timely decisions on cases; using legal provisions effectively, including diversion and probation officers; providing adequate opportunities for skill development and income generation within the correctional homes; developing sufficient and appropriate human resources for the juvenile justice system, including social workers and counselors; and identifying and replicating good practices within the system. The dissertation highlights the key areas needing intervention, providing a vantage point to plan and implement the necessary intervention. Thus, it establishes itself as an essential reference document for social work practitioners, researchers, and policymakers concerned about improving services and service delivery for children in conflict with the law in Nepal. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

This dissertation concerns an empirical research focused on observing the case law of the Appellate Court of Justice of Minas Gerais, Brazil, about sanctioning young offenders. I identify socially available ideas, senses, and thoughts that become incorporated as standard-settings to the discourse of State Appellate judges. The online empirical data (www.tjmg.jus.br). covers a period from 03.08.2010 until 01.12.2016, composed of approximately one thousand decisions. Keywords connected to the juridical language routinely employed in young offenders' records guided the further process of gathering seventy-seven sampling dossiers. The decisions herein studied typically contain summaries of main reasons and judicially assessed evidence to prove the accusation; and also rationales, reasoning patterns, beliefs, and other motives the judges consider to ruling the concrete case. Therefore, the research places particular emphasis on describing, characterizing, and understanding the influences of many idea systems and, in addition, of the current way of thinking the Adult Criminal Law Justice in the Juvenile Criminal Justice decisions. So, the research question is: "How have Appellate judges mobilized socio-legal semantics and idea systems to make sense of criminal sanctions imposed on young offenders?" This research adopted the theory of Modern Penal Rationality to characterize one of the idea systems identified in this investigation and construct some elements of its knowledge problem that address the epistemological obstacles to the evolution of the juvenile criminal justice subsystem in criminal matters. Due to my professional background and empirical observations of some dossiers, I contend that at least three idea systems influence the Appellate judges' decisions, in the social context of the Juvenile Criminal Law subsystem, as follows: 1) "Modern Penal Rationality" (as described by Pires and conceived for adults in the criminal justice system); 2) "Doctrine of Irregular Situation" (as provided by the revoked Brazilian "Code of Minors"); and 3) "Doctrine of Integral Protection" (as established in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution and in the 1990 Child and Adolescent Statute). Thus, the analysis shows how the decision-making process by the Court of Appeal - trying to proceed with an accommodation account of presumably conflicting values - selects idea systems linked to old theories of punishment to shape the logical structure of juvenile sanctions. I demonstrate that "common legal sense" and "taken for granted" statements apply to induce "severe" sanctions imposed without considering the specificity of the case by the rules of Juvenile Criminal Justice. As a result, I reveal that punitive reasoning prevails in juvenile delinquency judgments rather than child and youth protection, and I also describe the social-legal practice of the language of Juvenile Criminal Law in the Court of Appeal's environment.

Justice-involved youth have been shown to have higher rates of mental health concerns and trauma exposure than youth in the general population (e.g., Wood et al., 2002). An increased understanding of these mental health concerns is crucial as incarcerated youth already have worse long-term health outcomes (Barnert et al., 2017). However, while the mental health needs in terms of specific mental health diagnoses of justice-involved youth are well-documented (e.g., Teplin et al., 2002), there is a lack of research on the mental health services that are provided to justice-involved youth in institutional settings. Further, there is no known research on youth perceptions of the mental health services they received while incarcerated, which could be used to inform future research and practice to improve services. Thus, this study aimed to fill this gap by examining through a mixed-methods approach how justice-involved youth perceive the mental health care they received while incarcerated, as well as by exploring themes of areas of improvement that youth indicate as recommendations for better mental health support in youth justice institutional settings. Two-hundred and one (201) individuals who were formerly incarcerated as youth (age 24 or younger) participated in this study. Overall, participants indicated slightly greater than average satisfaction with the mental health care they received. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to examine differences in satisfaction between groups. Significant differences in satisfaction among facility types that youth were incarcerated in and among racial groups were found. There were no significant differences based on gender or ethnicity. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between Type-T (risk-taking/thrill-seeking) personality and satisfaction of mental health services while incarcerated, while controlling for covariates (gender, race, ethnicity, facility type, mental health diagnoses, and mental health services). Type-T was not found to be a significant predictor of satisfaction. Some mental health diagnoses (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia/psychotic disorder, substance use disorder), some racial groups (e.g., Arab American/Middle Eastern compared to White), and some facility types (e.g., juvenile detention compared to prisons) were found to be significant predictors of satisfaction. Thematic analysis was also performed on qualitative information obtained from both the surveys and interviews. Themes identified for positive aspects of mental health care experiences include Impact of Services, Relationships, Access, Service Quality, and No Positives. Themes identified for negative aspects of mental health care experiences include Access, Service Quality, Lack of Comfort, Ineffectiveness, Low Social Support, Physical Environment, All Negative, and No Negatives. Themes identified for recommendations include Access, Service Quality, Physical Setting and Environment, and Social Support. Results from this study have the potential to be used to inform experimental evaluations of changes to mental health services for incarcerated youth based on the strengths, identified needs, and recommendations of current mental health care from this study. Such studies could be aimed at improving services for incarcerated youth and developing best practices for mental health services for this population. / Psychological Studies in Education

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