Evaluation of North Carolina's Intensive Juvenile Probation Program

• NCJ Number: 119952
• Author(s): S H Clarke; A D Craddock
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 19 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts
• Corporate Author: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This evaluation examined whether juveniles in North Carolina's intensive probation (IP) program would have been committed to training school had IP not existed and the recidivism rate of juveniles on IP.

Abstract

To determine whether intensive probationers probably would have gone to training school without the intervention of IP, the evaluation developed a statistical model of the probability of commitment to training school, using data collected on 20 youths at the four IP sites from January 1 through June 30, 1984 (before IP began). In most cases, intensive probationers' training-school risk was much greater than the risk of juveniles placed on regular probation. The recidivism of 44 intensive probationers was compared with that of 109 juveniles on regular probation over an 8-month followup period. Sixty-four percent of intensive probationers compared to 34 percent of regular probationers recidivated. The evaluation suggests that the IP program select as clients juveniles on regular probation who have a moderate risk of recidivism, rather than a very high risk, as is currently the case. Probationers having a moderate risk may be more responsive to treatment and services in the program than are offenders on the brink of removal from the community. 3 figures, 21 notes.