Taking a Therapeutic Approach to Juvenile Offenders: The Missouri Model Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

In the early 1970s, the Missouri Department of Youth Services (DYS) took its first steps towards radically change the way it was a juvenile is returned in its custody. For many years, like most states, it is juvenile prisoners convicted of a felony or misdemeanor crime in large quasi-correctional institution under the name of "education." Instead, DYS began to create smaller "cottage-style" residential programs, emphasized rehabilitation over punishment and apply therapeutic approach to his troubled charges. Over the next three decades, DYS extended this approach to address all of its juvenile offender population. By the mid-2000s, "Missouri model," as it became known, was perhaps the most respected and widely considered the most effective juvenile correctional system in the United States. This case describes a model, including the Missouri population it serves, educational and therapeutic programs that it offers, and the staff front, "young professionals" he uses to work closely with young offenders. The case also provides an overview of Missouri impressively low relapse and a brief discussion of the complexities of these figures compare between states. It concludes with a discussion of problems encountered in Missouri DYS maintaining its highly regarded, but demanding, approach for many years. The case can be used in classes on child welfare policy and criminal justice. HKS Case Number 1904.0 "Hide
by Esther Scott, Julie Boatright Wilson, 20 pages. Publication Date: May 14, 2009. Prod. #: HKS104-PDF-ENG