Boot camps should provide a structured schedule that occupies every waking hour of the juvenile's day. Boot camps should establish a minimum length of stay of 180 days because rehabilitation programs require this amount of time to be effective. Programs should develop and implement a method of analyzing program costs and effectiveness. The research conducted by KCI has not shown that juvenile boot camps reduce recidivism. Some boot camps have shown that intensive supervision following graduation from a boot camp has decreased the offender's chance of committing another crime.
Cost savings are a major aspect of boot camps.
This alone can set the foundation to build boot camps into a traditional placement by increasing our knowledge on how to efficiently run a juvenile boot camp. Juvenile boot camps are becoming more and more prevalent in today's juvenile justice system. If a state or community chooses to develop its own juvenile boot camp, the Koch Crime Institute advises that the Recommendations for Operating or Opening a Juvenile Boot Camp be considered to help bolster the camp's chances for success.