Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health: Care and Treatment of Youthful Offenders

Date of Review: April, 2019

This resource, ‘Providing Healthcare for Youth in Correctional Settings’, is a 39 minute video lecture that reviews adolescent health in the juvenile justice system and relevant guidelines for treating this unique population are taught. A description of the specific health needs of this population including a diversity of laws; services and protections are provided. A basic overview of providing care for adolescents with special attention to the influences of the culture which is influenced by many social; economical; and environmental factors like trauma; abuse or parental instability; early developmental disabilities; and gender specific issues as well as the challenge of seeking an identity. Common health problems unique to this age group and to the juvenile justice system are identified. Given these many factors, specific protocols for screening; treatment management for this population are necessary. The medical legal challenges specifically around privacy and confidentiality is described. The influence of environmental root causes that are often present in the lives of those in the juvenile justice system are also reviewed. This lecture as a voiceover PowerPoint covers a lot of content about the juvenile justice system and could be used in a pediatrics or correctional medicine elective for students doing an adolescent medicine rotation. Given the length of the video and the amount of detail, it may be too long for pre-work for students but a faculty member could determine some sections to watch as supplementary material. Alternatively, it is a nice faculty development resource for this topic. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to access the ppt/slides but it may be possible to contact the author. This module is part of an online student curriculum aimed at teaching medical students about criminal justice and guidelines on caring for justice-involved patients. Specific screening, management, treatment and advocacy approaches are described in the seven 30-40 minute correctional health curriculum’s video lectures, which is part of an offering from the ACCJH. The ACCJH built this curriculum with partners from the University of Massachusetts, Harvard and Cornell with the goal of education and inspiring students to become advocates. . — Ashti Doobay-Persaud, MD, NCEAS

Institution:

Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice

Source of the Curriculum/Resource:

Online

Relevant Specialty:

Family and Community Medicine, Pediatrics