Can Specialized After-School Programs Impact Delinquent Behavior among African American Youth? (original) (raw)

The Discontinuity of Offending Among African American Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

Little is known about what factors contribute to African American youth desisting from offending. Participants were 3,230 moderate-to highrisk adolescents from Washington State who completed a statewide risk assessment to assess the likelihood of recidivism. Participants were screened by juvenile probation officers between 2003 and 2010. Researchers investigated whether youth possessed protective factors and whether developmental change took place after contact with the juvenile justice system. It was hypothesized that having protective factors would decrease the likelihood of recidivism and the impact of each factor would differ by gender. Findings indicate African American youth have protective factors across a range of domains. However, little developmental change occurs after contact with the juvenile justice system. Impulse control, parental supervision, and pro-social peers were important for reducing recidivism. Problem solving was more influential for African American males, while impulse control and parental supervision were more influential for African American females. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Delinquency prevention in poor and at‐risk African‐American youth: A social work practice innovation

Social Thought, 1999

Juvenile delinquency is a major social issue today which threatens to become more acute with anticipated demographic shifts and reductions in public support for the poor. Effective strategies for the prevention and reduction of delinquency among poor and at-risk youth are much needed. The Family Network Partnership is a small community-based delinquency prevention program in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The program joins the city housing authority, the community policing team, the youth court, and the local state university in efforts to address delinquency in a local public housing project. The program uses three primary strategies: (1) intervention with youth already involved with the juvenile justice system; (2) skill-building among youth prior to court involvement; and (3) community capacity building. This paper describes the Partnership's background, principles and program, and outcomes to date. With qualification, the Partnership is offered as a model for replication in similar communities.

Preventing Delinquency and Promoting Academic Success among School-Age African American Males

The current fervor of American education to establish optimal performance standards and measures of accountability has opened the system to various forms of critical analysis, meticulous examination and scrutiny (Black, 2008; Smith, Yosso, & Solórzano, 2007). As a result of this increased emphasis on accountability, educational policy and mental health, researchers have begun to stress educational innovation for improving the academic outcomes for American students. This focus was the impetus for this paper, to provide empirical evidence of the need to establish culturally-relevant priorities for school based social-skills training programs targeting school-age African American males by exploring delinquency-related factors (e.g., bullying and fighting, use of alcohol and other drugs, and neighborhood safety) that are related to educational outcomes (e.g., school performance). The subsequent section reviews existing literature that is related to the domain areas central to this inve...

Secondary Prevention of Delinquency: More Than Promises from the Past?

This paper reviews the literature on the secondary prevention of delinquency, examining the commonalities that characterize successful programs. The first part reviews standard approaches to secondary prevention of delinquency, such as diversion of responsibility for delinquents from the juvenile justice system to family, school and community-based systems. While most of these diversion programs have not substantially reduced subsequent arrests, successful community-based activity programs are also cited. Other strategies reviewed include educational and vocational training and family-based interventions. The message emerging from this review is that broad-based interventions and settings with multiple purposes and opportunities appear to consistently yield the best results because they provide numerous opportunities for adolescents to develop positive self-concepts and behavior patterns in a variety of contexts. Forty-eight references are included. (TE)

Do After School Programs Reduce Delinquency?

After school programs (ASPs) are popular and receive substantial public funding. Aside from their child-care and supervision value, ASPs often provide youth development and skillbuilding activities that might reduce delinquent behavior. These possibilities and the observation that arrests for juvenile crime peak between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on school days have increased interest in the delinquency prevention potential of ASPs. This study examined effects of participation in ASPs conducted in Maryland during the 1999–2000 school year and the mechanism through which such programs may affect delinquent behavior. Results imply that participation reduced delinquent behavior for middle-school but not for elementary-schoolaged youths. This reduction was not achieved by decreasing time spent unsupervised or by increasing involvement in constructive activities, but by increasing intentions not to use drugs and positive peer associations. Effects on these outcomes were strongest in programs that incorporated a high emphasis on social skills and character development.

The prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency: A review of the research

Clinical Psychology Review, 1993

This article reviews available evidence regarding the effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs to redwel'uvenile delinquency. A broad range of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs are considered. The conclusions reachzdfrom this review are that interventions must be broadly bared, extend over long time periods of development, and be assessed with fuller characterization d operational regularities. Juvenile delinquency is a complex problem that exacts a substantiai and continuing toll on our society. In 1988, 33.1% of the arrests in the United States for the eight serious crimes listed as the FBI's Index Offenses were of juveniles aged 10 to 18 years, an age group that comprises only 13% of the population (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1989; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989). Although a careful analysis of official statistics revealed that the arrest rate for juveniles in the population has remained remarkably stable since This manuscript is based on a background paper originally prepared for the Office of Technology Assessment of the Congress of the United States. Space limitations have forced the bibliography to be severely truncated. Any reader desiring a full bibliography and/or a reprint may request a copy from

Effects of a Youth Substance Use Prevention Program on Delinquent Behavior

2009

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