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Responding to Delinquency - Designing Youth Correctional Programs

NCJ Number
86796
Author(s)
A D Miller; J A Taylor; L E Ohlin; R B Coates
Date Published
1982
Length
39 pages
Annotation
A discussion of correctional programming for delinquent youths emphasizes the needs for expansion of community-based alternatives to State institutions and for a diversity of programs emphasizing individualized advocacy to develop community linkages for each youth.
Abstract
Although fear of crime has led to demands for placing more delinquent youths in secure institutions, no solid empirical evidence indicates the existence of a juvenile crime wave. In Massachusetts, youth arrests for serious crime actually declined slightly between 1977 and 1979. In addition, research at the Harvard Center for Criminal Justice supports a community-based policy of handling youth as the best response to the problem of juvenile crime. However, community influences are more important than correctional placements in determining whether a youth returned to the community will recidivate. Community social controls, including family, friends, neighborhood people, businesses, and schools, must all be engaged to maintain a former delinquent's improved behavior. For all youth, aftercare work in the community appears essential. Efforts should focus on helping parents, teachers, employers and others to provide a normalized system that includes both supports and sanctions. Planning should also focus on ways for youths who must be in closed custodial or therapeutic programs to be sequenced into more open, advocacy-oriented programs that will establish enduring linkages to the community. Planners must consider the political and policymaking cycles when planning or trying to implement more effective programs. The juvenile justice system should conduct dialogues with schools, families, neighborhood organizations, businesses, other community services, and the youths themselves. If youths are unable to gain a stake in legitimate community opportunities, the problems of delinquency and fear will remain. Examples for Massachusetts and 43 reference notes are included.