ABSTRACT
The custodial institution for juvenile offenders raises many questions. What is the rationale for commitment? How effective are the institutions as a means of rehabilitation? What should be done to improve their effectiveness? Into what different types do they fall? When are alternative methods of treatment preferable? Increasing commitments and pressures from the courts have led to the creation of additional public institutions. Actually the institutions themselves have been most active in seeking to secure it, but their resources are usually quite inadequate for this additional service. Some of it has been supplied through State, local, and private welfare agencies. The institutions themselves are recognizing the need to train their inmates realistically for their working life, but usually they cannot do much more than initiate the work-training process. Highfields has certainly challenged some of the assumptions on which most custodial institutions for youths are conducted.
