Teen Boot Camps - Options for parents with a troubled teen

  Without any reasonable doubt, the crime rate with respect to juveniles in the United States has steadily risen over the past few decades. For example, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Uniform Crime Reports, the number of juvenile arrests has increased by 47% between 1988 and 1992. During the same period, however, the crime rate for adults rose only 19%. Although this by itself is not significant, what is more important is the fact that the number of juveniles involved in serious and violent crimes was relatively consistent from 1972 through the 1980s. And this number has grown considerably since 1990 and they continue to rise. How society chooses to handle the juveniles in our culture has also changed throughout the years, almost as many times as the crime rates. This explains the rise of teen boot camps.

  There is a current debate in the United States concerning how the juvenile offenders should be addressed. Because Americans are now well aware that the country is a potentially dangerous place to live, some of the leniency has been removed from the system in hopes that the crime rates can be reduced. One of the more popular, yet controversial methods of dealing with troubled teens is the teen boot camp. While some feel that the idea of using the teen boot camp is an effective means of dealing with the violent, recurrent delinquent juvenile, there are many reasons why some states continue with further research concerning this topic. Turning kids over to teen boot camps has become a topic for debate. Not all agree with the concept of placing delinquent teens in the hands of training instructors who metaphorically tear the juveniles' identity and sense of self worth down to the very core,( common to teen boot camps) just to build them back up.

  This website attempts to address specific issues concerning juvenile boot camps by addressing questions and statements about the idea of placing a teen in a boot camp environment. Usually, although not always, we find that these troubled youth who are attending teen boot camps are not those who have committed the most violent crimes, but it is generally thought that a boot camp environment may help both the teenager and his/her parents.