Engaging Juvenile Justice SystemInvolved Youth in Service

1
Engaging Juvenile Justice System-Involved Youth
in Service

• Tammy Vega
• Sarah Guy

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Why?

• Community service requirements
• YSAs Mission youth are assets

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Who?

• Public School Alternative Campuses
• Youth in Foster Care
• Juvenile Probation Department
• County Juvenile Detention Centers
• State Youth Authorities
• Halfway Houses Residential Treatment
  Centers
• Secure Institutions
• Youth on Parole

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Numbers of Youth

• 613,000 students enrolled in alternative schools
  and programs for at-risk students (2000-01)
• SOURCE Kleiner, B., Porch, R., and Farris, E.
  (2002). Public Alternative Schools and Programs
  for Students At Risk of Education Failure
  2000-01 (NCES 2002-004), tables 2 and 4, and
  unpublished tabulations. Data from U.S.
  Department of Education, NCES, Fast Response
  Survey System (FRSS), "District Survey of
  Alternative Schools and Programs," FRSS 76, 2001.

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The Numbers of Youth

• 385,400 youth ordered to probation in 2002 (62
  of all delinquency cases)
• SOURCE Office of Juvenile Justice and
  Delinquency Prevention, Juvenile Delinquency
  Probation Caseload, 1985-2002, OJJDP Fact Sheet,
  November 2006 04

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The Numbers of Youth

• 96,655 youth were either committed, detained, or
  diverted to residential placement centers in 2003
  (about 23 of all delinquency cases)
• About 15,000 were girls
• SOURCE Sickmund, Melissa, Sladky, T.J., and
  Kang, Wei. (2005) "Census of Juveniles in
  Residential Placement Databook."

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Profile of a TYC Youth

• 89 were boys - 11 were girls
• 44 were Hispanic, 34 were African-American, 22
  were Anglo
• 34 are gang members
• Four years behind their peers in Reading, and
  five years behind their peers in Math
• 40 were identified as eligible for special
  education services
• 83 had IQs below the mean score of 100
• 46 were chemically dependent
• 41 had serious mental health problems
• 76 had parents who never married or who divorced
  or separated
• 36 had a documented history of being abused or
  neglected
• 60 came from low-income homes
• 74 came from chaotic environments
• 52 had families with histories of criminal
  behavior 12 had family members with mental
  impairments
• 48 were in juvenile court on two or more
  felony-level offenses before being committed to
  TYC
• SOURCE Texas Youth Commission, fiscal year 2006

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The Criminal Personality

• 30 thinking errors documented by Samuel
  Yochelson and Stanton Samenow
• Research can be used to describe an average
  individual in the group of system-involved youth
  not each youth

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Common Characteristics

• Self-centered
• Need for power control
• Impulsive
• Dishonest
• Poor communication skills

• Low frustration tolerance
• Violence and anger
• Lack of empathy
• Lack of remorse guilt
• Learning disabilities
• Substance abuse
• Few friends
• External locus of control, lack of
  responsibility

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Making the Case to Involve these Youth

• They are not typically invited to participate in
  service projects
• Huge potential for making a significant impact
• Captive audience
• Its the right thing to do if we want these youth
  to become contributing members of society

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Unique Special Needs

• Keep projects and lessons simple
• Use immediate gratification and positive
  reinforcements
• Biggest challenge instilling empathy for others
• Spend time on reflection, integrating lessons
  learned
• Look for ways to let them lead and plan

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Who are the Stakeholders?
COMMUNITY
YOUTH HIS FAMILY
JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
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Teaching Youth to Lead

• System-involved youth are oftentimes natural
  leaders capitalize on their strengths!
• Teach youth how to organize, preside over a
  meeting, develop and follow an agenda.
• Teach them coping mechanisms when things dont go
  as planned.
• We are the facilitators they are the planners.
• Let the youth choose the focus of
  service-learning projects.

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Gaining Support

• Get the stakeholders involved by addressing their
  primary concerns
• Recognize the expertise offered by each
  stakeholder
• It takes a village!

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Using Incentives

• Youth will work for rewards use your
  imagination!
• If you get stuck ask the youth what they would
  like to earn.

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Putting the learning into service-learning

• Help the youth spend as much time in learning as
  they do in service
• Learn before the service learn during the
  service learn after the service
• There are many ways to learn

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Types of Learners

• VISUAL LEARNERS
• AUDITORY LEARNERS
• KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

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Process of Learning

• Problem-solving
• Synthesizing
• Creating questions
• Analyzing
• Summarizing
• Proposing solution

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Designing the Perfect Service Project

• As we facilitate the planning process, set
  parameters and consider risk factors
• Examples to consider

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Logical Project to Teach Empathy

• Animal cruelty
• Multiple offenses
• Arson, destruction of property
• Assault, crimes against persons
• Substance abuse

• Domestic violence shelter
• Washing dogs at humane society
• Shelter for homeless
• Habitat for Humanity
• Talking with elementary students about preventing
  delinquency

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When Youth Cant Leave

• Behind the Fence Projects require creativity
  and adaptation!
• Ask community stakeholders to identify needs
• Let exceptional youth present the product to the
  stakeholders

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Special Considerations for System-Involved Youth

• Confidentiality
• Family Involvement
• Victims
• Security safety
• Transportation

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Special Considerations

• Supervision
• Don't ignore small infractions of the rules.
  Youth gage your mindset, determination, and
  confidence through incremental infractions.
• Don't ignore laughing, side comments, etc. by
  youth. Confront everything - firmly but kindly.
  Challenge the youth to confront one another and
  internalize lessons.

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Special Considerations

• Food, water
• Exposure to sun
• Substance abuse

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Recognition

• The significance of recognition
• Make recognition public
• Take it to a higher level
• Testimonials

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Open Forum

• Questions?
• Ideas?

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• Engaging Juvenile Justice System-Involved Youth
  in Service
• Tammy Vega
• Sarah Guy