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Juvenile Corrections and the Chronic Delinquent

NCJ Number
134652
Author(s)
C A Murray; Jr L A
Date Published
1979
Length
159 pages
Annotation
In 1976, the American Institutes for Research published a study documenting the significant reductions in rearrests among juveniles who had participated in an experimental program called Unified Delinquency Intervention Services (UDIS). The analysis was based on a comparison of pretreatment and posttreatment arrest rates; the phenomenon of reduced recividism was called the suppression effect.
Abstract
This follow-up study, based on data collected from 317 Chicago youth who were committed to the juvenile division of the Illinois Department of Corrections between October 1974 and July 1976, was designed to answer some of the questions raised by the suppression effect. The youth in this study were housed in the reformatories operated by the DOC. This study examines the properties of the suppression effect, emphasizing the roles played by potential artifacts and compounds. Three of these topics -- maturation, the regression artifact, and history -- are described in detail. The authors discuss alternative forms of juvenile corrections and compare them to institutionalization. The impact of lesser interventions, supervision, and probation are also analyzed. The authors conclude that, as measured against the recidivism criterion, community-based juvenile corrections are inferior to out-of-town alternatives, while programs that leave the youth at home are inferior to residential ones. However, they also note that effective juvenile corrections need not be harsh or prolonged. Furthermore, programs can be beneficial both to youth and to the community at large. 13 tables, 10 figures, and 4 appendixes