YOU Inc (Youth Opportunities Upheld, Incorporated) - Intensive Probation Program - A Two-Year Report, 1971-1973 (From Implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 - Hearings, P 569-608, 1978 - See NCJ-79016)

• NCJ Number: 79032
• Author(s): Anonymous
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 40 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-79016.

Annotation

A Massachusetts intensive juvenile probation program--Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. (YOU)--is described and evaluated.

Abstract

The program aims to keep juveniles in their own homes and in a normative community environment while influencing all areas of a youth's maladjustment in that environment. The services provided by YOU are weekly counseling, family therapy sessions and parent groups every other week, individual medical and dental examinations, biweekly group 'raps' for clients, biweekly education and vocation assistance, and a weekly recreation program. Objectives of the YOU evaluation were to study the relative effects of the program on selected variables as compared to other probation programs and to determine the types of juvenile offenders most and least likely to benefit from YOU. Intervention effects were examined through data from tests, ratings, and court records, as well as interviews of YOU participants. The YOU groups were divided into three subgroups for evaluation--first-year (1971-1972) participants, summer (1972) participants, and second-year (1972-1973) participants. The comparison groups were also studied as three separate groups. Findings show that despite the severe problems presented by clients, the program does reduce further illegal activities. Sixty-one percent of YOU clients hold their own in the community; 39 percent return to the court, and 20 percent are recommitted to the Department of Youth Services. A high degree of success was found with youth with the neurotic conflicts and with more severely disturbed youth. The antisocial passive and antisocial aggressive clients were the most difficult to resocialize, and more success was achieved with the active aggressive youth rather than with the passive aggressive clients. The data indicate the need for intensive secure treatment facilities for a small yet significant number of juveniles who apparently cannot be helped by nonresidential community-based programs. Tabular data are provided.