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‘Boot Camp’ For Juvenile Offenders Introduced

1985

Louisiana introduces the first “boot camp” program as an alternative to jail for juvenile offenders. Taking its lead from military training (and modeling itself on the first boot camp for adult offenders, started in Georgia two years earlier), the boot camp concept seeks to rehabilitate offenders by providing structure and discipline, both mentally and physically. By the end of the 1990s, about 400 boot camps are in operation around the country.