Boot camps for conduct disorder

Domain XVI · Historical, discredited & harmful · 1983 · United States

What it is

Correctional boot camps are short-term residential programmes modelled on military basic training, used for adjudicated young people and adults; CrimeSolutions describes juvenile boot camps as "short-term residential programs that resemble military basic training facilities" and lists participants…

Format

• The core idea of change claimed for the model was that a militaristic regime of discipline, drill and confrontation would deter and reform young people with conduct problems. The Campbell review of 32 studies found that boot-camp participants reoffended at roughly the same rate as comparison groups…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Historical phases of the practice (outline). (1) From 1983, adult correctional boot camps in the US; (2) spread to juvenile corrections, with state and county camps such as the Bay County, Florida, camp, which operated from 1994; (3) a private-sector market of boot camps and related wilderness and behaviour-modification programmes, largely unregulated at federal level; (4) evaluation showing no reduction in…
• Phase C, routing to supported care. Goal: replace the boot-camp option with NICE-supported interventions for conduct problems (parent training, child-focused problem-solving programmes, multimodal interventions for 11 to 17-year-olds). Move on when the family has a concrete plan.
• Phase E, advocacy and follow-up. Goal: records, complaints, legal routes, and longer-term relapse planning. Session number and length follow the client's needs and the setting.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Version followed: correctional and private boot camps for young people with conduct problems, as documented in the US Government Accountability Office testimony GAO-08-146T (2007), the Campbell systematic review by Wilson, MacKenzie and Mitchell (2005), the CrimeSolutions practice rating, NICE…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Survivors who were labelled only as "bad". Working: a fuller formulation.
• Parents hearing "parent training" as blame. Working: attendance and reported change at home.
• Clients told they were "faking it" may distrust their own symptoms. Working: a completed medical review.
• Being told "we have no alternatives"; retaliation. Working: the referral route is withdrawn or reviewed.
• Overwhelm, dissociation, increased risk; slow down. Working: falling symptom scores and better functioning.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.