Imagine this scenario: Little Timmy, who isn't so little anymore because he is six feet tall and sixteen years old, still hasn't outgrown his Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Not only that, but he is now abusing and trafficking substances that are much more dangerous and serious than marijuana or alcohol. This morning you received two phone calls; one was from Dr. Allison Keeney, the principal, and the other from Mr. Ryan Bailey, the counselor at the school Timmy attends. The message you heard from Dr. Keeney is that your son is expelled and perhaps facing local police charges for selling illegal drugs on school property and beating up another boy because he couldn't pay the money he owed Timmy. When Mr. Bailey was talking to you, he gave you a list of possibilities for "bettering" Timmy and potentially "simmering down" the repercussions of this ordeal. You listen to the list, mentally checking off each one as a "possibility", "out of the question", or "I will check into it". Then he mentions juvenile boot camps. He even gives you a list of what he calls the "most productive and beneficial". You think to you

1998: In February drill instructor Joe R. Ozuna was charged with assault for allegedly attacking a 15-year- old at a disciplinary camp in San Benito, Texas ("Are Boot Camps Too Extreme?").

1997: Frederick Howard, an officer at a boot camp program at a Youth Development Campus in Milledgeville, Georgia was accused of cruelty to children after allegedly breaking a juvenile's arm because the child was unable to do push-ups ("Are Boot Camps Too Extreme?").

It has been declared by boot camp advocates like Mike Slusher, vice president of operations at the Koch Institute, that they are "a relatively cheap thing to do and are liked by the public- they could see that something was being done about juvenile crime" ("Are Boot Camps Too Extreme?"). Yet those in favor of eliminating boot camps point out "effective treatment programs are structured, intensive, and focus on changing specific behaviors; boot camps do not have these qualities. Instead they brutally punish and dissolve any self-esteem the child may have, all together harming the individual" ("Characteristics of Effective Treatment Programs"). The problem with boot camps is that they do not have consistent long-term effectiveness rates, employ inadequately trained supervisors, neglect education, do not have specific regulations to follow, lack the nurture some "problem teens" need, abuse the teens, and could ultimately cause their death. In order for boot camps to be effective, if indeed the camps can even be effective, they must be required to employ a proficient staff trained in productive discipline focusing on behavior modification as opposed to personality extinction, incorporate education in their program, nurture troublesome adolescents, follow universal and strict guidelines, involve the family and community, offer counseling to the family, and provide involved follow-up care.

1999: In March two Wichita County Boot Camp drill sergeants were accused of causing injury to a child for allegedly yanking a 14-year-old's arm in Kansas ("Are Boot Camps Too Extreme?").

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Approximate Word count = 2312
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)