Program to Extend Police Service Capability

• NCJ Number: 69596
• Journal: CRIME PREVENTION REVIEW Volume: 4 Dated: (1977) Pages: 26-32
• Author(s): A Binder; M Newkirk
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 7 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: California Council on Criminal Justice; US Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The article describes the University of California, Irving (UCI) Youth Services Program, a juvenile diversion program which has been successful in reducing juvenile criminal recidivism rates.

Abstract

Current approaches to juvenile criminal acitivity focus on more active community participation toward juvenile diversion. Minor offenders are redirected from the police and justice system to community agencies in the hope that counseling at an early stage will prevent later severe problem behavior. The UCI Youth Service Program was begun in 1971 as a cooperative effort between the local police department and a university pilot intern project. By 1976 it became the police diversion component of three municipal consortia with a total of 13 cities. Police refer minor juvenile offenders to the program, whose counselors work within the police facilities to redirect juvenile behavior. This is done through teaching parents effective ways to give rewards and impose sanctions, providing parents with new management tools, teaching juveniles coping skills and integration of appropriate responsibilities, manipulating trouble-causing environmental conditions, teaching families effective ways of communication, and providing volunteer adult role models. For proper evaluation, the program is voluntary and has three groups - an emergency referral group not subject to random assignment, a treatment group, and a control group. Preliminary evaluation indicates significant differences in recidivism rates between control and treatment groups at 6-month and 1-year post-referral intervals. However, the rates are more successful in reducing criminal behavior than in preventing runaways. In addition, there are indications that family and community adjustment is much greater for treated youths than for control youths 6 months after referral. Finally, acceptance by the police has been impressive and conducive to the program's successful operation.