In order to completely understand the juvenile system, I felt like an interview would be essential. The person I chose to interview was a correctional officer at a facility that housed both adult and juvenile inmates. He was also a patrol sheriff’s officer for Lafayette Parish. He has a lot of experience dealing with adult criminals and juvenile delinquents. The interview was conducted in person on October 15th at 12:30pm.
Q1: What type of correctional facility did you work at?
A1: “One that houses adults, juveniles, and both men and women.”
Q2: Was your facility mainly adults or juveniles?
A2: “Mainly adults.”
Q3: When did you begin working at the correctional facility?
A3: “September of 2004.”
Q4: How long did you work there for?
A4: “One Year in the correctional facility and eight months on patrol.”
Q5: What first made you work at the facility?
A5: “I was a criminal justice major, I wanted to work in the field, and needed a good job.”
Q6: How do you feel about juvenile waiver?
A6: “I think that it is sometimes acceptable depending on the type of crime in which the juvenile committed.”
Q7: When you worked in the Correctional Facility did you run into juveniles?
A7: “Yes.”
Q8: Was there any difference dealing with these juveniles, than dealing with the adults?
A8: “Yes, the juveniles had a false sense of reality and the consequences for their crimes. The juveniles were also usually more rowdy and higher strung.”
Q9: What type of programs, if any, did your facility offer for the juveniles whom were incarcerated?
A9: “They were able to be evaluated by the jail psychologist and they were also offered medical care. They were not allowed too many programs because there was not enough time in the day to get their programs in because they were not communally integrated with the adult inmates until 18.”
Q10: How do you feel about the fact that they were not allowed enough programs because of the lack of time?
A10: “I feel like it wasn’t the juveniles fault, but I think that the safety of the inmates and staff are above anything. You don’t want to have people get injured or killed, nor have staff lose their jobs because of integration of juveniles and adults.”
Q11: What differences, if any, were there between how the correctional officers treated the juveniles and how they treated the adults?
A11: “The juveniles often listened to the officers more and often wanted to contact their family. The juveniles always needed someone to talk to in order to keep their sanity. The adult inmates were not as needy. ”
Q12: How often, if at all, did you see juveniles released from your facility once again incarcerated?
A12: “Very often, it seemed like they did not have as much regard for the law, but once they turned 18 you would not see them back as soon. Some juveniles would come back within a week, where you might see an adult inmate come back six months later.”
Q13: Do you feel like there was anything that your facility did to help lessen the juveniles’ chances of recidivism?
A13: “No, I do not. The programs they were able to take were self-improvement programs, but they were not programs the juveniles could relate with or programs that would make them change their lives around.”
Q14: What type of difficulties, if any, did you run into when dealing with juveniles in a facility made mainly for adults?
A14: “Being able to give them full access to the prison, just like you would with an adult prisoner.”
Q15: Why were they not allowed to mingle with the adult prisoners?
A15: “Because it would be a liability, if anything happened to them. It is against the correctional facilities procedure, and the juveniles would probably be attacked by some of the adult inmates because of their vulnerability.”
Q16: Is there anything different that you would have liked to see done with the juveniles in your facility?
A16: “Just more programs and counseling to help them improve on themselves”.
Q17: Is there anything you would like to add to this interview?
A17: “That if someone commits a criminal act, they should serve time.”
Q18: What are your impressions of this interview?
A18: “It is informative.”
From this interview I learned that the system in place to help juvenile inmates is not working at this specific facility. The fact that juveniles leave and then come back within a week shows the juveniles need for better programs. I was also able to get a better understanding of the struggles an adult facility has while dealing with juveniles. It was important to fully understand the juveniles’ special needs, especially for mentors and people they could talk to. I see now, these juveniles need more programs they can relate to and programs that will help them have a better reverence for the law.
The interview went very smooth. I feel like I planned out my questions well, and was able to create more questions as I went along. I was very surprised that I did not shell up from shyness. I think that planning out the questions helped with that, and the fact that I was the one doing the interview. I also felt that asking basic questions at the beginning of the interview helped with the more difficult questions by the end.
I could improve future interviews for research purposes by learning how to create even more informative questions. I could also dig a little deeper. I should not be afraid to find out all the details of a subject. Learning how to create the perfect questions would help a lot with that. I think for my first interview I did really well, but my next interview will be even better.
Image Reference
De Luca, J. (2010). Vogelsang House Blog. Retrieved October 15, 2010 from Pod Press, Dalton Blogs: http://blogs.dalton.org/vogelsang/.
