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Delinquent youths' proclivity to return to school after release from placement in a juvenile residential institution has been significantly discouraged before their 18th birthday. Often, years of poor education performance and failure, discipline issues, neighborhood and family debilitation, older age, adjudication stigmatization, and other crimogenic variables become barriers to continuing their education. This study discusses public expectations and the obstacles to obtaining them. These obstacles include the economic impact of dropping out of school, un/underemployment, lower standard of living, and learning disabilities. The population for the study was 348 delinquent male youth adjudicated to residential placement at a low security youth forestry camp in Pennsylvania. A discriminate analysis was performed to explore the relationship between nine independent variables and a criterion variable. This variable was whether delinquent youth returned to school after release from residential placement in a youth forestry camp. Through the explanation of descriptive statistics about race, plans to return to school, special education identification, and age categories, an insight into the characteristics of the population is provided. The means and standard deviation for months in placement, age at release, ability scores and posttest reading and math scores are also included. These statistics are followed by an explanation of the findings from the stepwise linear discriminate analysis. The discriminate analysis found that two variables were statistically significant: student planned to return to school and age at release. It was found that these variables accounted for part of the variance in actual behavior of returning to school on release. The implications and recommendations could have significant impacts on the juvenile justice courts practices that in turn could instigate changes in legislation, state policy, and institutional procedures. These effects could be found in the overall treatment focus, education structure and delivery, institutional operations and beyond through aftercare. (Contains 2 tables.) more...

Juvenile Correctional Education has been evolving in the United States for over 360 years. From inclusion in an indentured servant/foster care type of placement legislated in the Massachusetts Colony in 1642, it has become manifest today as an entitlement regardless of juvenile justice disposition. The education for juveniles was wrapped in the cocoon of the dominant justice system throughout the history of the United States. Its emergence was initially indistinguishable because education was incidental to other incarceration management and treatment modalities. As differentiated placement was adopted, education for religious purposes from the ministerial community edged into prison regimens. Juvenile offenders benefited because they were commingled in the common jails and workhouses of the Colonial Era. A clear distinction in providing education to juveniles appeared during the Refuge House and Reform Era of the Nineteenth Century. The judiciary and social reformers touted education as a basis for new types of institutions such as reformatories and industrial schools. This era established education within juvenile justice with a focus on basic and practical skills. It was generally accepted by correctional authorities and social reformers that this level of education was the most appropriate for these youth. A more comprehensive provision of education gradually emerged during the Professional and Political Patronage Era of the Twentieth Century. Through the efforts of special interests in the greater society after World War II, the actions within the professional and political domains enriched the requirements of free and appropriate education for all youth. Juvenile offenders have benefited through inclusion as an identified group within the mandates of education for all youth. The impact of these influences is having a positive effect on the education programs in residential placement institutions across the United States. more...

Abstract Background Adequate sagittal plane motion of the first metatarsalphalangeal joint (1st MTPJ) is important during normal gait and goniometric measurement is commonly used as a diagnostic and outcome assessment tool. We aimed to determine the intra and inter‐rater reliability together with the concurrent validity of a universal plastic goniometer (UG) and a smartphone applicationlication (Dr G) for the measurement of dorsiflexion at the 1st MTPJ. Methods Measurement of joint position and passive range of motion of the 1st MTPJ dorsiflexion was compared using a UG and DrG goniometer. A double‐blind repeated measures design was utilized, with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) used to determine levels of reliability. Results For joint position good intra‐rater reliability (ICC >0.861) and good inter‐rater reliability (ICC >0.823) was noted. However, the Dr G application consistently measured lower angles (mean 27.8° (SD 8.37)) than the UG (mean 32° (SD 11.7)) and these associations were significant (r = 0.399, p 0.809). Inter‐rater reliability was moderate to good for the UG (ICC 0.693 (95 % CI 0.580 to 0.788)) and good for the Dr G application (ICC 0.708 (95 % CI 0.597 to 0.799)). Conclusions Moderate to high intra and inter‐rater reliability of joint position and passive 1st MTPJ motion can be achieved with traditional and smartphone‐based goniometric measurement. The Dr G application may provide a slightly higher reliability, but devices should not be used inter‐changeably as significant variation in measurement between devices may occur. more...

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) monitoring of nuclear materials and facilities will help formulate proposals to ratify a treaty regarding chemical weapons threat. Despite differences chemical and nuclear industries, the two have common factors such as the monitoring systems. Although the vastness of the chemical industry makes regular and thorough inspection impossible, the IAEA's suggestions can be used to form a Chemical Weapons Convention. more...