Will Adjudicated Youth Return to School After Residential Placement?: The Results of a Predictive Variable Study

• NCJ Number: 213780
• Journal: Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 57 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 65-85
• Author(s): James H. Keeley
• Date Published: March 2006
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the prevalence of and factors in a sample (n=191) of delinquent youths' returning to school after release from a juvenile residential institution (low-security youth forestry camp in Pennsylvania).

Abstract

Two variables were found to be statistically significant in determining the actual behavior of returning to school after release: "plan to return" and "age at release." These two variables accounted for 28.5 percent of the variance in returning to school on release. The overall results indicate that 75.9 percent of the sample followed through on their original plans, whether the plan was to return or not return to school. Juveniles at the earlier part of 17 years old and younger were more likely to return to school than the older youth. When both of these variables were positive for individual students, it was likely they would return to school. The author recommends that correctional administrators determine a youth's intention to return to school and relate this finding to the youth's age. When younger youth (17 years old and younger) express an intention to return to school, the institutional programming should focus on earning credits for a high school diploma, seeking the more immediate GED, or enhancing life skills and basic skills. For those students who do not plan to return to school after release, institutional programming should focus on GED programming or earning a Commonwealth Secondary Diploma awarded by the State. The initial population for the study was 348 adjudicated males from 12 counties of eastern Pennsylvania. Their average age was 17.8, and their length of placement was 5.3 months. Testing instruments were the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale and the pretest and posttest of the Wide Range Achievement Test 3. Discriminate analysis was used to determine which variables were related to the juveniles return to school after release. 2 tables and 42 references