Distinguish between community treatment and institutional treatment of juvenile offenders. What ...

Probation and other forms of community treatment generally refer to nonpunitive legal dispositions for delinquent youths, emphasizing treatment without incarceration.
 Probation is the primary form of community treatment used by the juvenile justice system. A juvenile who is on probation is maintained in the community under the supervision of an officer of the court.
 Probation also encompasses a set of rules and conditions that must be met for the offender to remain in the community. Juveniles on probation may be placed in a wide variety of community-based treatment programs that provide services ranging from group counseling to drug treatment.
 Community treatment is based on the idea that the juvenile offender is not a danger to the community and has a better chance of being rehabilitated within the community.
 It provides offenders with the opportunity to be supervised by trained personnel who can help them reestablish forms of acceptable behavior in a community setting.
 When applied correctly, community treatment (a) maximizes the liberty of the individual while vindicating the authority of the law and protecting the public, (b) promotes rehabilitation by maintaining normal community contacts, (c) avoids the negative effects of confinement, which often severely complicate the reintegration of the offender into the community, and (d) greatly reduces the financial cost to the public.
 Student responses will vary.