NCJ Number
79849
Date Published
1981
Length
148 pages
Annotation
Findings and recommendations are presented from an evaluation of the Labor Participation in Crime Resistance and Criminal and Juvenile Justice Reform Project (CRCJJR), an effort to involve organized labor in community crime prevention and juvenile justice reform.
Abstract
CRCJJR's 1-year effort had the major goals of (1) stimulating organized labor's involvement in criminal and juvenile justice issues through the AFL-CIO community services network, (2) serving as the liaison between organized labor and other groups engaged in crime reduction and other justice issues, and (3) helping troubled youth find a productive role by assisting the Labor Youth Sponsorship Program at the United Labor Comprehensive Criminal Justice Centers within the Fort Worth, Tex., and Cleveland, Ohio, United Labor Agencies (ULA's). Components of the project were a community services survey, a clearinghouse and liaison function, craft use, assistance to the Labor Youth Sponsorship Programs, and assistance to new ULA's with existing or potential justice programs. The cornerstone of the evaluation was the development of a functional model which contained the major activities to be performed for each component, as well as the interrelationship among each series of action steps. The evaluation showed that the project was only partially successful in achieving its stated goals and objectives. Each component fell short of complete implementation. One of the major deficiencies was the project's tendency to drift from stated goals and objectives while focusing major efforts on specific project tasks and neglecting others, which created an imbalance in the overall movement toward goals. Still, organized labor and key groups and persons viewed CRCJJR as being useful and knowledgeable as a resource for community service and criminal and juvenile justice programming. Evaluation instruments and charted results are appended. (Author summary modified)