NCJ Number
79488
Date Published
1981
Length
69 pages
Annotation
This report on the 'Ike Na Pa'ahao' (the experience of the prisoners) program, a juvenile awareness program run by inmates of the Oahu Community Correctional Center in Hawaii, attempts to measure the impact of the program on the attitudes and self-reported behavior of youth who attended the session.
Abstract
A questionnaire was administered to two experimental and one control group of youths. Each group was tested twice so that an accurate measure of the program's impact could be obtained. Interviews were also conducted with 15 members of the program and with 5 members of the prison staff. The Ike Na Pa'ahao program differs from the Scared Straight program run by inmates of the Rahway State Prison (New Jersey) in that it does not employ scare tactics with youth who attend its sessions but attempts instead to establish open and honest communication between inmate members and juveniles. The program appears to have a positive impact both on those attitudes that might prompt a youth to get into trouble and on the actual incidence of delinquent and/or negative behaviors. Differences between youth who had seen the presentation and a comparison group which had not were notable, as were differences in the incidence of delinquent behavior reported by youth who had seen the program. These results do not support the contention that attendance at the presentation either aids in the creation of attitudes which would support future criminality or prompts the commission of delinquent acts. Data tables and endnotes are included. Material on the Ike Na Pa'ahao program, including the study questionnaires, is appended. (Author abstract modified)