Developing and Defining Staff -Youth Relationships within a Juvenile Correctional Facility

This study uses in-depth interviews to explore the relationships between staff and juveniles residing and working in a private juvenile correctional facility in the Midwest. Because staff play a key role in shaping the experience of incarceration and can influence the degree of rehabilitation or punishment carried out within the facility, this is a crucial dynamic to analyze for an understanding of juvenile corrections. Findings from the interviews demonstrate the importance of building trust as a basis for positive, rehabilitative relationships with staff. Most staff expressed the shared goal of rehabilitation for the youth; however, they differed regarding the best approach for achieving this. While previous research notes the value of a mentoring relationship between staff and juveniles for rehabilitative efforts; staff at this facility varied in their perspectives of the role they played and the correctional response they found most appropriate. Gender and age of the staff influenced these views.