In the pioneering days of the juvenile corrections system, social workers often served as the primary probation officers who rehabilitated young offenders. As law enforcement officers increasingly dominated the field of corrections, however, social workers were relegated to ancillary roles.
Clark Peters, assistant professor of social work and an expert on juvenile justice and child welfare, contends that social workers need to return to the juvenile corrections system and reclaim their role as rehabilitators at the front line of services.
Rather than emphasize incarceration and punitive measures, as law enforcement does, the system needs social workers adept at building relationships and counseling, Peters said. But it shouldn’t end there.
“[Social workers] ought to be the probation officers,” he said.
Social workers were significantly involved in the juvenile corrections system early in the 20th century, but less than 2 percent of trained social workers are employed there today, according to the National Association of Social Workers.
Returning more of them to the system might help alleviate overcrowding in America’s jails and prisons. Indeed some states, Peters said, are fighting the rising incarceration costs by re-emphasizing community-based probation programs that help juveniles improve their odds of becoming productive societal members.
Opportunities exist to re-evaluate how teen offenders are treated, said Peters, who published an article on the subject last month in Social Work, a journal of the National Association of Social Workers. “There is a tremendous amount of attention and resources being put in place to deal with offenders in more constructive ways” than punitive measures, which have dominated America’s rehabilitation system for the last 30 years.
“It is a less effective way than how social workers approach the problem,” he said.
“Social workers are trained to bring a more constructive, holistic view on how to deal with teen offenders through counseling, developing relationships with family and friends, and engaging in school activities,” Peters said. “All these things are associated with reducing [repeat offenses] and helping young people get back on track with their lives.
“An opportunity exists now to re-evaluate how we treat offenders in this country."