Far From Home: An Examination of the Juvenile Visitation Experience and the Barriers to Getting There. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Young, Brae Campion; Nadel, Melissa R.; Bales, William D.; Pesta, George B.; Greenwald, Mark A.
• Is Part Of: International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology. Volume 63:Number 8(2019)
• Page Start: 1409
• Page End: 1423
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: prison visitation -- juvenile visitation -- juvenile justice -- family support -- family visitation; Criminals -- Rehabilitation -- Periodicals; Criminal psychology -- Periodicals; Violent offenders -- Periodicals; Sex offenders -- Periodicals; Criminology -- Periodicals; 364.3
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X18823444
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-624X

Abstract

Despite a growing body of research on prison visitation, very few studies have examined visitation among committed juvenile offenders. As a result, we have little understanding of how youth experience visits and why some never receive them. This article fills these gaps. Using surveys collected from 1, 202 youth released from residential facilities in Florida, we found that among youth who were visited, they had positive experiences with visits and that families went to great lengths to visit. For those youth who were not visited, the most common barrier was distance from home. However, some youth were not visited because they refused visits or because families withheld visits as punishment. Moreover, despite the possibility that lack of visitation is harmful, we found that most not-visited youth had positive perceptions of their future success. Policy implications and directions for research are discussed.