The Arts within Juvenile Correctional Institutions and Facilities: Critical Review of the Literature

The juvenile justice system has gone through a transformation over the past few decades; from children being tried as adults to now focusing on rehabilitating juveniles in lieu of merely charging them with criminal acts. The present capstone will present how the following facilitators; creative art therapists, art therapists and multidisciplinary artists, conducted art interventions and programs that impact juveniles while in detention. The motivation for this capstone and reviewing how facilitators have been working within detention centers was due to an internship at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center in Lima, Pennsylvania. The history of the juvenile justice system will be outlined, and the mental health needs will be highlighted with respect to its impact on juveniles in locked or secured facilities. Finally, a critical analysis of articles that studied the arts, art therapy and creative art therapy will be discussed, concluding with a reflection on the influence that the arts and art therapy has on the juvenile population in detention.M.A., Art Therapy and Counseling -- Drexel University, 201