Intersections Of Special Education Law And Juvenile Justice Policy And Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this research is threefold: to summarize law as it relates to youth with disabilities in juvenile justice facilities; to synthesize existing literature hypothesizing explanations for the disproportionate numbers of youth with disabilities involved with the juvenile justice system and proposing effective educational programs to serve those youth; and to discover the ways in which the educational programs and policy and procedures of two juvenile justice facilities both correspond with and contradict literature recommendations and special education law. Special education legislative documents, policy and procedure manuals for two juvenile justice facilities and personal reflections of my employment experiences at these facilities will serve as primary data sources. Differential association provides the theoretical framework for this research and suggests that youth with disabilities in juvenile justice facilities need greater exposure to influences that are favorable to education and unfavorable to delinquency.