NCJ Number
160947
Date Published
October 1995
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This video of a teleconference provides information on unique and effective intervention strategies with serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders in three highlighted community-based or secure correctional settings; the importance of effective intensive aftercare programs is also discussed.
Abstract
The programs profiled by the panel members are the Florida Environmental Institute (FEI) ("The Last Chance Ranch"), the Capital Offender Program, and the Family and Neighborhood Services Project. The FEI targets serious juvenile offenders and is located in a remote area of the Florida Everglades. FEI has a capacity for 40 youths, 20 in the residential portion of the program and 20 in the nonresidential aftercare component. FEI begins with a 3-day orientation program, during which case treatment plans are established, projects are assigned, and the bonding process between staff and students begins. Phase 1, which emphasizes education, has a low staff-to-student ratio. Students must earn points to move on to the next phase, where they can participate in paid work projects to help with restitution payments. Near the end of the second phase, the program's community coordinator takes the students back to their communities to assist in job placement and the rebuilding of family relationships. In the third phase, students live in the community but maintain constant contact with the institute. The Capital Offender Program (COP) at Giddings State Home and School in Texas began as an innovative group treatment program for juveniles committed for homicide. It is an intensive, 16-week program that involves a group of eight juveniles and two or three staff members in a secure setting. The Family and Neighborhood Services project (FANS) is a public program in South Carolina. It uses the principles of "multi-systemic" therapy, which is a highly individualized family and home-based treatment designed to deal with offenders in the context of their family and community problems. Based in a community mental health center, the program is a cooperative effort between the State's Department of Youth Services and Department of Mental Health. Panelists also discuss the importance of intensive aftercare, and call-in questions are included.