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Desktop Guide to Quality Practice for Working with Youth in Confinement

Recent successful juvenile justice and juvenile detention reforms have resulted in better and more meaningful public policy on the use of custody facilities and have triggered significant reductions in juvenile detention and corrections populations. However, a secondary-and perhaps unintended-consequence has been a parallel reduction in the resources available to continue providing much needed training and technical assistance to facilities that still must confine the most troublesome youth. As history continues to show, juvenile detention and corrections remain the “forgotten” elements of the juvenile justice system. We now must add adult facilities that are responsible for the care and custody of youthful offenders to this list of isolated elements ...

"The purpose of the Desktop Guide is to provide practitioners-line staff, supervisors, and administrators-along the various points on the youth-custody continuum with an operational resource that describes promising and effective practices that are rooted in theory and tested by research. Accordingly, the Desktop Guide will serve as a core resource for staff development and training as well as for academic course work ...

"The Desktop Guide has two parts. Part I: Principles and Concepts explores the background principles, concepts, and knowledge at the core of juvenile justice and services for youth in confinement. Part II: Daily Practice identifies what is quality practice, including the skills needed to effectively serve youth in confinement."

Part I: Principles and Concepts contains: Chapter 1: Historical Perspective, by Michele Deitch, J.D., M.Sc., in partnership with a number of her students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin; Chapter 2: Types of Facilities, by Pam Clark, MSM, LSW, CYC-P; Chapter 3: Physical Plant Design and Operations, by Jim Moeser; Chapter 4: Developing and Maintaining a Professional Workforce, by Pam Clark; Chapter 5: Rights and Responsibilities, by Michael Umpierre, Esq.; Chapter 6: Adolescent Development, by Rodney Erwin, MD; and Chapter 7: Emerging Issues, by Charles Kehoe.

Part II: Daily Practice contains: Chapter 8: Management and Facility Administration, by Anne M. Nelsen, MSW, MPA; Chapter 9: Admission and Intake, by Anne Nelsen; Chapter 10: Effective Programs and Services, by Wayne Liddell in collaboration with Kathy Starkovich, M.S., and Pam Clark; Chapter 11: Mental Health, by Lisa Boesky, MD; Chapter 12: Healthcare, by Michelle Staples-Horne, MD, MS, MPH, CCHP; Chapter 13: Education, by Randall W.Farmer, M.Ed., in collaboration with Carol Cramer Brooks; Chapter 14: Behavior Management, by Michele Deitch; Chapter 15: Service and Treatment Plans, by Dr. Nelson Griffis, Ph.D., LMSW, in collaboration with Jennifer Sloan, MSM, Wayne R. Liddell, and James Moeser; Chapter 16: Behavior Observation, Recording, and Report Writing, by Anne Nelsen; Chapter 17: Quality Assurance, by Kelly Dedel. Ph.D.; Chapter 18: Transition Planning and Reentry, by Joyce Burrell; and Chapter 19: Challenging and Vulnerable Populations, by a panel of experts and professionals.

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