Date

2008

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Health, Human Services and Public Policy

Abstract

Project was conducted at the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center in order to evaluate the effectiveness of three programs: Power of Words, Seven Challenges and Victims Impact. The juvenile level of recidivism from each program was collected. Based on personal observations, the results, and literature review these programs were provided with recommendations on strategies that have proven to be effective for at-risk juvenile. Recidivism means the number of juveniles who re-commit a minor or serious offense while or after participating in one of the mentioned programs. There were three steps taken in this process: first, I attended all three program sessions in order to experience the program through the juvenile's perspective; then after the third month in which the program had ended, I checked each juvenile's probation status in order to identify any further offense, violation, or improvement; finally, I came up with recommendations for improvement to all three programs according to the results, my personal observations, and my literature review. The results were displayed on a bar graph where it shows that 48% of juveniles on Power of Words re-offended 38% juveniles in Seven Challenges, and 9% juveniles in Victims Impact. The distribution of offenses was also provided in order to understand where all the high levels come from. Many strategies were recommended to each program based on research or programs that have proven to be effective for at-risk juveniles. This capstone project will benefit the Probation Department youth center because it has brought awareness for the implementation of new strategies that will also reduce the level of juveniles who re-commit offenses.

Comments

Capstone Project (B.A.) Health, Human Services, and Public Policy Department

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