On "probation" at Horizon Academy

[Oscar]

We noticed this article in the local newspaper about an incident at Nevada Horizon Academy:

From: D.A’s Report, Pahrump Valley Times, November 26, 2010

Criminal contempt through failed court order placement at Horizon Academy, stealing from a roommate’s locker at Horizon Academy, committing battery and not complying with reasonable rules of probation

It seems that this kid will improve his or her conditions. I believed that being on probation was a lighter sentence than being locked up in the juvie. What an odd kind of system.

[Ursus]

Probably one of the conditions of his probation was attendance at Horizon Academy. If he doesn't make it at Horizon, he goes back to juvie.

[Oscar]

It remains a mystery for me what the motivation for not to go the juvie would be when the probation conditions is to live at a place where the only difference from the juvie is the tailoring of the prison uniforms.

[Ursus]

It remains a mystery for me what the motivation for not to go the juvie would be when the probation conditions is to live at a place where the only difference from the juvie is the tailoring of the prison uniforms.

It's usually a question of what does or does not appear on a kid's juvenile record. Juvie is usually an unequivocal and permanent entry. Horizon Academy may or may not be a temporary entry (presuming being court ordered there) pending successful completion of the program (i.e., it gets erased once you complete it). It may even be a non-entry right from the start regardless of circumstances.

I'm not an expert on how they work this kind of thing these days and this may be an incomplete or less than fully accurate picture, and there may be some state to state differences as well, but... as I understand it, that's about the essence of it.

[Ursus]

There may also be parental fears as to the kind of other kids a child could come into contact with in juvie vs. a program, and the kind of influence said peers may have as to future choices their child may or may not make. There is definitely an impression that folks harbor — not entirely undeserved, I might add — re. the juvenile justice system containing more high-level offenders than programs do.

Of course, there is generally a great deal more mindfuckery going on in programs than in juvie (depending on the facility), but most parents are unaware and/or uninformed as to both the short term and long term consequences of that sort of abuse...