Boot camps have developed over the past two decades into a program that incorporates a military regimen to create a structured environment. While some critics of this method of corrections suggest that the confrontational nature of the program is antithetical to treatment, authors Doris Layton MacKenzie and Gaylene Styve Armstrong present research knowledge and personal discussions with community leaders that offer insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial form of corrections. Correctional Boot Camps: Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections? provides the most up-to-date assessment of the major perspectives and issues related to the current state of boot camps. The book goes beyond cursory examinations of the effectiveness of boot camps, presenting an in-depth view of a greater variety of issues. Correctional Boot Camps examines empirical evidence on boot camps drawn from diverse sources including male, female, juvenile, and adult programs from across the nation. The book explores empirical research on both the punitive and rehabilitative components of the boot camp model and the effectiveness of the "tough on crime" aspects of the programs that are often thought of as punishment or retribution, in lieu of a longer sentence in a traditional facility. Thus, offenders earn their way back to the general public more quickly because they have paid their debt to society by being punished in a short-term, but strict, boot camp. Correctional Boot Camps is a comprehensive textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying corrections and juvenile justice. The book is also a valuable resource for correctional professionals interacting with offenders.

Includes: historical perspective; an overview of boot camp goals, components, and results; state correctional programs in N.Y. State, Illinois, and Georgia; the Federal system; boot camps in county jails (Santa Clara County, CA); juvenile boot camps (California and Florida); different program models (discipline in Georgia; substance abuse programming in adult correctional boot camps; boot camps as an alternative for women); program design and planning (multisite studies; boot camps and prison crowding); and the future of boot camps. Charts, tables and photos.

The research examines the operation of boot camps, or shock incarceration programs, examining whether they (a) work as an intermediate sanction, (b) generate more harm than good, (c) prevent offenders from re-entering the criminal justice system, and (d) are cost effective. The authors conclude that shock incarceration reduces the strain on prison budgets, reserves prison bed space for hardened criminals, and offers boot camp participants a chance for rehabilitation. Criticisms of boot camp approaches are also noted.