Family and Community Perceptions of Quality in Juvenile Justice Programs

Abstract

The conceptualization and empirical assessment of service quality in juvenile justice remains limited. There are few reports on programmatic attempts to assess satisfaction in juvenile justice programs or attempts to include what constitutes quality of service from multiple customer perspectives. This article describes a potential model, the Gap Model, for measuring quality from the customers' perspective. Empirical findings from a study utilizing the model to examine the nature of service quality as perceived by customers of 6 juvenile justice programs are presented. Implications for adapting the model are also addressed.

Key Words:

• Consumer satisfaction
• juvenile justice
• quality improvement
• performance measurement