Promises, Failures, and New Promises in Juvenile Justice: Implications for Social Work Education in the 1980s

Abstract

During the past 10 years there has been increasing concern about the juvenile justice system's treatment of children and about the need for major reforms to increase the effectiveness of its services. The relevance of these changes to professional social work is the promise to modify the ways the system deals with troubled youth by shifting the emphasis from incarceration to diversion and community-based programs. This paper examines recent developments from the perspective of future social service and personnel needs, together with their implications for social work education.