Teen Boarding School Help

If you are a parent deciding a boot camp experience might teach your teenager into behaving better, think again. Despite boot camps popularity as a short-term, quick fix solution for troubled teenagers and at-risk youth, there has been serious contention among experts regarding its effectiveness.

According to a number of doctors, psychiatrists and researchers, the efficacy of boot camps is questionable at best. Here’s why:

Boot camps do not reduce recidivism

In 2001, Dr. Doris MacKenzie of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at University of Maryland published on national review that boot camps do not offer adequate evidence supporting its efficacy in reducing recidivism of participating teenagers. According to her research, the recidivism rates of troubled teenagers who spent time in boot camps are no better than troubled teenagers who didn’t. In fact, she noted that majority of the studies who completed a boot camp program instead became repeat offenders once they got home.

One of the main reasons is because boot camps are not designed to offer treatment that can lead to lasting psychological or behavioral change. And most importantly, boot camps do not offer aftercare programs. So after teenagers complete a boot camp program, they are more likely to repeat the same problems that have led them to a boot camp in the first place—and this time with added bitterness and resentment.

Jaime E. Muscar, associate with King & Spalding’s Tort Litigation Practice, stated in her article “Why the Military Model Does Not Belong in the Juvenile Justice System” that a strong aftercare program is essential to reducing recidivism among troubled teens. She noted that a military model can not only undermine rehabilitation but also pose a threat to the safety of the participants. These sentiments are mirrored by the earlier work of Dr. MacKenzie, who also stated that while physical fitness and positive environment are very strong benefits of boot camps, rehabilitation programs that do not use the military basic training model and that are not designed to scare, deter or control wayward youth are better alternatives.

Boot camps may not be cost effective

On the average, boot camps charge for a 30-day stay an all-inclusive fee between $5,000 and $10,000, which covers board and lodging, expenses for day to day activities, as well as other miscellaneous expenses incurred during the duration of the camp. Apart from what is listed as required for packing (e.g. clothes, shoes, toiletries, sleeping bag, medicines, etc.), the teenagers’ every need and necessities once they get on camp are usually taken cared of by the camp administrators, and rarely will the campers need to buy something themselves.

As you can see, boot camps are not cheap, that’s because they offer a shorter time than a typical behavior modification school. As a comparison, a therapeutic residential school will have the same average cost of $5,000 and $10,000 but for a period of 6 to 12 months. Aside from that, boot camps generally cannot avail to the financial aid programs of most states, such as tuition loan programs that greatly increase affordability by spreading the payments over a predetermined length of time.

Boot camps’ confrontational approach is not appropriate

According to a number of researchers who have provided in-depth study regarding the effectiveness of boot camps, a confrontational model that employs aggressive techniques such as intimidation, pressure and humiliation for the purpose of scaring straight at-risk youth and troubled teens, is counterproductive for most youth and oftentimes doesn’t work. The confrontational and bullying style of treatment may be particularly inappropriate or potentially damaging for severely troubled teens, or teens suffering from emotional, mental or behavioral distress such as bipolar and depression.

Researchers also noted that the use of this kind model has led to industry damaging controversies regarding abuse and terrible accidents in the past. Major critics even argued that there is little reason for these programs to continue in a youth correctional setting.

Positive changes demonstrated while in boot camp may not carry once a teenager returns home

According to the MacKenzie and Muscar research, teenagers who successfully completed a boot camp and were subsequently assessed ‘normal’ by the time of their discharge fail to maintain proper levels of recidivism once they return to their community. The research concluded that boot camps indeed have negligible effect on recidivism.

According to them, a three to six months residential phase of a typical boot camp program is highly insufficient to change a lifetime of bad behavior, and that is why aftercare programs are so essential in a troubled youth intervention setting. Without a significant therapeutic component while still in the program, as well as a dedicated and long-term aftercare that starts immediately following release, teen boot camp programs have been over and over again ineffective in rehabilitating troubled youth. Yet these are the aspects that are most often overlooked in a boot camp program.