Juvenile Justice

Development of Best Practices

By Robert Haas

Dec 8, 2010 Back

One of the fundamental underlying principles of the juvenile justice system is an acknowledgment that children and adolescents will typically engage in a wide array of behaviors as part of their developmental and learning experiences. Often these behaviors can yield a potential risky outcome that can manifest serious harm to others and themselves. Generally speaking, it is these dangerous encounters that create the deepest impressions and serve as life shaping experiences.

Every year there are several instances where children have lost their lives or have been horribly disfigured as a result of experimentation with fire. There seems to be a stage in their lives when children show a distinct fascination with fire. Fortunately, more children than not progress through this phase without any serious ramifications. There are those children who do not and continue to experiment with fire until there is a tragic event like those seen in the media.

As professionals, we intuitively recognize the potential harm and significant danger presented by children whose fascination with fire is more than just a passing curiosity but is a manifestation of, and possibly symptomatic of, a deeper underlying problem. Yet, we typically respond to firesetting incidents of youth and adolescents as we typically respond to most juvenile offenses.

The focus tends to be on the act and typically centers on the youthful offender. Despite the philosophical differences between how the justice system responds to adult and juvenile offenders, there is not much difference in the approach. Rather than recognizing juvenile firesetting behavior as behavior that might be an instrument of a purposeful action of destruction, it could very well be evidence of other deep seated psychological maladies. Given the complexities that are associated with juvenile firesetting behaviors, everything from simple curiosity to malicious destruction, and everything else in between, this type of behavior warrants a field of study and response that recognizes the importance of early recognition and accurate identification of what the underlying causative factors might be. From that approach, it would seem wholly appropriate for practitioners to have a deeper and richer understanding of what these behaviors are and to better recognize what differentiates juvenile firesetters from other kids and other crimes.

Path to Solutions

While juvenile firesetting is an age old phenomenon, we in the juvenile justice system have yet to develop a set of practices that specially addresses the unique aspects of the child or adolescent behavior. There are pockets of innovative practices that are taking place around the country, but there still has not been a uniform practice that has been adopted by the juvenile justice system. We must establish awareness within court clinics to allow juvenile justice leaders to respond with input from the mental health community. During a time when academic research drives much of what we do, it would seem no better time to take more of an evaluative approach designed to effectively deal with what we know has all the potential of being a serious and persistent problem.