Juvenile offenders with special needs: Critical issues and bleak outcomes

Social, adaptive, and academic skills must be acquired by today's juvenile offenders, especially those who have disabilities and are ethnically or linguistically diverse, to function effectively at a job and in the community. To give juvenile offenders the opportunity to acquire these skills, juvenile justice systems must address the special academic needs of these individuals. Currently, treatment programs in the juvenile justice system do not fully remediate deficient reading skills in youth with reading disabilities, possibly leading to higher incidence of juvenile offenses among this population. This paper identifies major issues and challenges for juvenile offenders with special needs, including dropout, un- and underemployment, and recidivism to demonstrate the need for reading and literacy intervention. Implications for family-school-juvenile detention staff intervention and future research needs within a sociocultural framework for juvenile offenders with special needs are discussed.