Citation

Berg BL. Juv. Fam. Court J. 1986; 37(5): 31-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The program, which became fully operational in January 1980, offers a wide range of community-based resources as alternatives to judicial processing. These include community arbitration boards, work restitution, individual and family counseling, Big Brothers and Sisters, assignment to volunteer trackers, and community service. This evaluation focused on one of the two larger districts involved in the program and targeted 302 cases randomly selected from a total working population of 578. The study obtained client demographic data, offense information, delinquent history, and sanctions applied. Forty-five percent of the clients were misdemeanants and included 61 cases of theft of items valued at less than $3.00, 36 cases of minor trespass, 20 cases of school-yard fights, and 13 cases of arrest for possession of alcohol only months before being legally of age. Serious juvenile offenders, who are the primary targets of the program, were most often terminated from the program. The program measures recidivism as the successful completion of the program. There is no evidence that the program significantly alters clients' behavior. It simply processes minor offenders who would probably have ceased offending on their own without any intervention by juvenile authorities. 2 notes and 18 references./p>