Describes a teacher's work with a small-group Book Club format for adolescents (who were also parents) and a large-group workshop environment at a juvenile detention center. Shows that art creates powerful catalytic links to writing while serving as a catharsis for the young writers. Suggests that art helps them to concentrate thoughts for…

This document reports results of a study that examined the status of and need for vocational education by juveniles and adults in state correctional institutions and local jails in Ohio. The study report includes the following: (1) an overall picture of crime and criminal justice in Ohio; (2) a rationale for providing vocational skill training for…

Growing evidence indicates that teen courts give a community's children and adults a practical response to the problems associated with delinquency, traffic safety, and substance abuse. Developing and implementing teen courts requires a collaborative effort and juvenile justice agencies need baseline information that will aid them in creating teen…

Studied 340 former inmates of two reform schools. One school emphasized psychological treatment; the other school stressed harsh punishment. Results suggested that "milieu therapy" works in adolescence, but has no discernible effect after age 24. Ethnicity had a powerful effect on recidivism. (JAC)

Describes three successful partnerships between the Colorado Department of Youth Corrections, two higher education institutions, and one private organization which provide education, mental health, and orientation services to incarcerated youth in Colorado. (Author)

Discusses the use of law-related education as an alternative to formal court in Kentucky's juvenile justice system focusing on the Court-Designated Worker (CDW) Program that processes public and status complaints on individuals under 18 years old. Encourages practitioners in similar settings to pilot a law-related education program. (CMK)

Research-based reading instruction could reduce recidivism and increase employment opportunity for incarcerated juvenile offenders. Reviews of the research literature provide ample evidence of the link between academic failure, delinquency, and reading failure. A re-examination of the research literature and interviews with reading instructors…

The Maine Youth Center was established to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. The primary treatment philosophy at the Center is Reality Therapy, which stresses that individuals are responsible for their own behavior. To test the effectiveness of the therapy, major assessments of the youths were conducted at 6-month intervals in 1980 and 1981. The…

A physical education program specifically designed for alienated, delinquent, and troubled young men of high school age is described. The goal of this program is to prevent dropping out of school by dealing with the students as individuals and emphasizing a friendly relationship between student and teacher. The humanistic approach to education is…

This study (one portion of a larger study) was designed to identify the characteristics of Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I basic skills programs in institutions for neglected or delinquent youth that appeared to be effective in producing student achievement gains. The study attempted to contrast small samples of more effective and…

Delinquency and vandalism are serious problems in secondary schools today. These problems, coupled with the fear of retaliation and the complications of the present legal system, are examined for causes and possible solutions in this newsletter article. Some causes of this delinquency are listed as: (1) alienation from society due to economic…

The project described offers an approach to providing occupational skills to socially and educationally handicapped youth, specifically the skills necessary for a service station attendant in driveway salesmanship and auto care. The 10-page evaluation report presents project goals and objectives with evaluation data (represented graphically) and…

Outdoor activities in residential programs aim to promote personal growth and to develop a healthy personality in troubled youth for whom other interventions have been unsuccessful. In the Netherlands, experiential outdoor programs consist of activities such as mountain climbing and rapelling, flat and white water canoeing, biking, sailing,…

A practicum was designed to train staff to improve (over an 8-month period) the literacy and reading skills of 60 delinquent adolescent boys residing in a juvenile correction facility. Most of the boys residing at the training school had poor school histories characterized by reading achievement scores several grade levels below their peers and…

The booklet reviews the literature and offers practical suggestions for providing special education services to incarcerated youth with special learning, social, or emotional needs. The booklet examines the following topics: (1) handicapping conditions among juvenile offenders (the most common are mental retardation, learning disabilities, and…