NCJ Number
116807
Journal
Journal of Offender Counseling, Services & Rehabilitation Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: (1988) Pages: 163-174
Date Published
1988
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the success rate of 56 teenage male students at Elk Hill Farm, Va., who were identified as learning-disabled juvenile delinquents prior to treatment, in terms of subsequent reincarceration.
Abstract
The 56 boys in the sample were at least 2 years below grade level. Sixteen of the 17 unremediated students were institutionalized from 6 to 13 months; only one unremediated student was institutionalized for less than 6 months. In the remediated group, students were institutionalized for 6 to 15 months. The success rate index of the two groups was compared for duration of legal problems, age, I.Q. ranges, and settings to which students returned. At the time of discharge, 39 were academically remediated, while 17 were unremediated. Students in the remediated group consistently improved their success rate as their age increased. Students in the unremediated group did not show a predictable pattern of success. Academic remediation appeared to be a predictor of future reincarceration. In addition, academic remediation and social-emotional growth had a greater impact on later incarceration than the length of time in trouble with the law prior to placement. Unremediated juvenile delinquents with learning disabilities had about twice the reincarceration rate of remediated learning-disabled juvenile delinquents. Additional study is necessary to explore the link between social-emotional growth and learning disability remediation in incarcerated juvenile delinquent populations. 14 references, 5 tables. (Author abstract modified)