NCJ Number
175429
Date Published
1997
Length
155 pages
Annotation
This is the fifth and final legislatively mandated evaluation report on LEAD, the California Youth Authority's (CYA) pilot juvenile boot camp and intensive parole program.
Abstract
Designed as an alternative placement for the CYA's least serious offenders, LEAD is typical of other juvenile boot camps around the country in targeting cost effectiveness, bed savings, and lower rates of recidivism as major goals and in incorporating a primary focus on treatment. Named in its enabling legislation, LEAD stands for the qualities it expects to instill: leadership, esteem, ability, and discipline. The overall LEAD program is designed for 10 months. The outcome findings for this final impact evaluation are based on all wards who were subjected to random assignment to study groups (LEAD and control) during the first two years of LEAD operation (from September 1992 through August 1994). The LEAD group numbered 348 and the control group 284. In addition to evaluating the LEAD program's impact on recidivism, bed savings and cost-effectiveness were also assessed. The analyses of recidivism data show that criminal activity over the 12-month follow-up period did not differ significantly between the two groups, nor did offense severity. LEAD parolees were arrested more often, particularly for technical offenses, and were more often placed in detention (including revocations for technical offenses) than control parolees. The shorter initial length of stay for LEAD wards (by 4.2 months) resulted in an estimated saving of 126 beds per year. This resulted in a mean marginal cost saving of $1,516,410. Based on marginal cost figures, the cost of LEAD for the 1995-96 fiscal year was $463,842. 12 tables, 39 references, and appended legislation and supplementary tables and figures