ABSTRACT
Correctional boot camps are prisons where civilian offenders engage in military style activities. Boot camps' emphasize vigorous physical activity, drill and ceremony, manual labor, and other activities that ensure that participants have little, if any, free time', according to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). Benda has labeled boot camps 'Teflon programs' because of their lingering popularity in the face of significant negative evidence. The boot camps emerged at a historical moment when punitive attitudes were prevalent is important. Thus boot camps were selected as a key case study of a policy which spread widely despite a lack of supporting evidence and are identified in the title as a 'failure' in evidence-based policymaking. However, since the US is a federal system, the actions of the federal government often affect the diffusion of policies throughout the states.
