NCJ Number
92985
Date Published
1983
Length
338 pages
Annotation
In highlighting findings from a study of a national, federally funded program designed to foster the deinstitutionalization of status offenders (DOS), this book considers adequacy of rationale, level of implementation, and program achievement.
Abstract
Federal efforts to assist State and local jurisdictions in their delinquency control activities, formed the background for the program for the deinstitutionalization of status offenders. Program objectives and their clarity and specificity are examined, as well as problems related to their theoretical and conceptual grounding. Four goals were specified for grant applicants: (1) the establishment of procedures for using alternatives to secure detention at both the pre-and postadjudication stages, (2) the removal of status offenders from correctional institutions, (3) the provision of community-based services as an alternative to detention and institutional placement and the establishment of procedures that hold service providers accountable on a per-child basis, and (4) the evaluation of the effectiveness of various program models to provide guidance for future DSO programs. The authors examine the impact of goal-specificity issues on program structure and design, together with effects on the organization and conduct of the evaluation study. Attention is then given to the eight State and local sites funded. Tests of program effectiveness were reduction in the number of youth incarcerated, the extent and nature of changes in a status offender's presence in the juvenile justice system, whether appropriate youth were served by the program, and the program's impact on recidivism. The study found that residential treatment showed the most consistently beneficial effects, with runaways appearing to benefit the most. Some evidence suggested that providing a large number of services is harmful to clients. Across all sites, recidivism was somewhat higher for program participants compared to a preprogram group. The authors advise that while results do not show the alternative services provided for status offenders to be necessarily productive, they are about as effective and less costly than institutionalization. Since the programs were experimental, lessons learned may yield more fruitful outcomes in the future. The appendix lists DSO publications and dissertations; about 120 references are provided. Author and subject indexes and extensive tabular data are included.