NCJ Number
181569
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 43 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 322-337
Date Published
September 1999
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Interviews of 6 male and 12 female rural juvenile first offenders who completed a court-ordered program in Nevada focused on their perspectives about delinquency prevention and intervention programming.
Abstract
The interviews took place 1 year after the youths completed Project MAGIC, which was designed specifically for entry-level juvenile offenders. The participants included 12 white, 4 Hispanic, and 2 Native American Indian. The participants ranged from 13 to 18 years of age. Results provide insights about the challenges that former offenders experience. These challenges include: (1) how they feel about themselves and their concern about how they are perceived by others, (2) their complex and often conflictual relationships with others, and (3) their lack of goals for the future. Findings also indicated the coping strategies these youths use to stay out of trouble. The skills and strategies these youths use include communication skills, decision making skills, self-responsibility skills, and locus of control to reflect on their past performance and evaluate current performance. Program components that worked well and would be useful for other programs include the coeducational group process, the highly motivated and extensively trained staff, the scholarly design of the program content, the university link to the research base, and several others. Tables and 16 references (Author abstract modified)