Change in New York's Juvenile Corrections System

From the late 1960s to 1984, the New York State juvenile corrections system has undergone significant change. Following a period of reductions in institutional populations and increases in community-based programs, the state experienced significant growth in the number of secure facilities, the number of youths housed in secure settings, and the total residential population. The purpose of this paper is to describe and document the changing nature of the juvenile system and to focus on the dynamic forces behind the change process. This paper, based on the observations of policymakers active in the juvenile corrections area, points to the importance of several key policy decisions which have fundamentally altered the shape of the residential services component of the juvenile corrections system. Also emphasized is the importance of a wide range of less obvious factors that policymakers have found influential both through their impact on policy decisions and through their direct effect on the system. Consideration of these findings points to the need for a broad conceptualization of a human services system such as a juvenile corrections system. Only with such a conceptualization can one begin to understand and influence the process of change in an area such as juvenile corrections.