The Juvenile Justice Process. The major decision points in this process are: (1) arrest, (2) referral to court, (3) diversion (at multiple 
points in the process), (4) secure detention, (5) judicial waiver to adult criminal court, (6) case petitioning, (7) delinquency finding/
adjudication, (8) probation, and (9) residential placement, including confinement in a secure correctional facility 
Working With Youth 
When I graduated from college with a BA in psychology, I applied for a job working with the Division of 
Youth Corrections in Denver, CO.  I worked in a Residential Treatment Facility (RTC), which used behavior 
modification techniques, assigned case-workers to each youth and their families, and attempted to help the kids 
learn problem-solving skills and accountability. Youth were confined for a variety of reasons, from committing 
gang affiliated drive-by shootings, to youth who were designated dependent youth through social services and had 
nowhere else to go. We had high-risk kids, low-risk kids, conduct disorder and mental health kids all together on 
the same unit. Having the mix of all these different kids is not a great formula; the low-risk kids learn negative 
behavior from the high-risk kids, and the conduct disorder kids victimize the mental health kids.  In an ideal 
institution, these different populations would all be on separate units. 
Working with youth is hard. They push boundaries, are angry, try to manipulate those around them, and reject 
authority. However, working with youth is exceptionally rewarding. They are kids. They come from abusive and 
neglectful homes and are yearning for approval and love. For example, one boy in our facility was named Josh. He 
was a super angry and violent sixteen-year-old who was sentenced for committing aggravated assault. Through 
working with counselors and caseworkers, we discovered his anger was hiding immense sadness. He lashed out at 
those around him when he was sad because he had no way to show his feeling other than through aggression. Many 
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