- Many of the programs designed to handle troubled teens are educational, structured to engage and to facilitate a learning process. Some programs are designed to study the teen's cognitive behavior and develop his social skills. Other federal programs for troubled teens are restrictive or detaining, such as a correctional facility or boot camp. All programs are meant to monitor and correct the troubled teen's behavior and keep him out of future trouble. Some are voluntary, others will be assigned as punishment by a legal authority.
- Teens are mostly placed into these federal programs through law enforcement, beginning with an arrest, a conviction and a sentence. However, a conviction is not always necessary for a teen to participate in a federal program. Sometimes teens are referred to a program. For example, a teacher might refer a troubled student to a mentor program in hopes of correcting the student's behavior.
- Academic programs are offered during regular classroom hours and after school. A Pennlive.com editorial notes that it is during the after-school hours that teenagers are most likely to get into trouble. After-school programs usually entail athletic activity, cultural- or community service-based activities and involvement in the arts. Children's Aid Society of N.Y. is one of the programs that helps troubled youth. These programs are run by educators, and students exhibiting risky behavior can enroll in them before they get into legal trouble.
- A mentor is a positive role model that will guide a teen through all aspects of life. The goal is to reduce and eliminate delinquent behavior by exposing the teen to positive influences. The Department of Justice has worked throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium to provide programs as part of its Juvenile Mentoring Project.
- Therapy is geared toward correcting a troublesome teen's cognitive thinking and behavior. A lot of time a teen's behavior can be the result of abuse he suffered at home. Family therapy is a way of digging into the source, aiding the family as a whole and coming to a resolution for the teen's behavior.
Group home therapy is another mental therapy program a juvenile delinquent may be sentenced or referred to. In the early 1990s a study done by the Juvenile Justice System showed group home therapy to be successful for more than 60 percent of participants.
A teen may be assigned to such a program as a result of legal troubles, however this is not a requirement for enrollment. - Boot camps are programs based on the model of the U.S. military. Physical drills and vigorous exercise are meant to instill strength of will into juvenile delinquents. There is a psychological aspect of boot camp that is meant to frighten troublesome teens into understanding the gravity of their offenses and ultimately keep the teen from reoffending. The federal Bureau of Prisons runs a number of boot camp programs for troubled teens throughout the states. A teen may be sentenced to these programs by a judge, or he can be enrolled by a parent or guardian if he is deemed at risk.
- Correctional facilities are restrictive living situations that are designed to confine an offender and keep her out of society. Prisoners are on a strict schedule and on round the clock watch. The teens placed in such facilities are put there involuntarily, usually at the order of the court after being convicted of a crime.
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