NCJ Number
181337
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: May 1999 Pages: 43-46
Date Published
1999
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes the relationships between evaluation research findings and the policies on residential centers for juvenile offenders in Canada; it discusses two examples of research findings whose interpretation was distorted or had adverse consequences.
Abstract
An evaluation of the youth facility of Boscoville found that boys who spent more than 2 years in Boscoville stopped making notable improvement in terms of psychological development after the 2 years. The improvements in question were obtained after a stay of 12 to 15 months, depending on the individual. As a result of these findings, a new policy was established to make it impossible to order a term of more than 2 years in a center for delinquents; however, managers and practitioners in the field of residential measures report that it is now rare for a youth to spend more than 1 year in a residential facility. This decrease in the length of the stay in a residential center has made it impossible to rehabilitate delinquent youth effectively in that environment. Research shows that it is unrealistic to expect significant change in less than a year. This means a reasonable policy has been applied in a severely distorted manner, considering the degree of social and psychological maladjustment experienced by juveniles in conflict with the law. Other evaluation results at Boscoville showed that the psychoeducational model, which was being applied to all troubled adolescents at Boscoville, worked better with juveniles who displayed neuroses than with those who were more egocentric. The detractors of Boscoville interpreted these findings as a discrediting of the psychoeducational model in general, which in turn undermined Boscoville's program and discouraged the educators on the staff. This article offers recommendations for attempting to ensure that research findings are accurately interpreted and correctly implemented in the initiation and monitoring of change. 15 notes