Evaluation of North Carolina's Intensive Juvenile Probation Program

• NCJ Number: 106750
• Author(s): S H Clarke; A D Craddock
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 25 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts
• Corporate Author: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

At the request of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, intensive probation (IP) for juvenile delinquents which began in 1985 at four sites.

Abstract

Youth adjudicated delinquent, likely to be sentenced to a training school, were chosen for work with specially designed court counselors. These probation officers have a lighter work load; contact the juveniles during evenings and weekends; and work closely with families, school officials, and employers. Counselors are available 24 hours a day for crisis prevention; they monitor compliance with court orders and probation conditions closely. Data collected from the IP sites indicate that most IP juveniles probably would have been committed to training school if their court dispositions had occurred in the year before the IP program began. The recidivism of IP juveniles was higher than that of regular probationers for an average of 8 months. Of the 44 IP recidivists, 28 avoided training school commitment during the followup, perhaps because judges wanted them to continue to receive IP services. IP delinquents were supposed to be high-risk juveniles when they were first chosen for the program. It is suggested that moderate-risk, rather than high-risk, delinquents be selected for new IP programs. 3 figures and 21 notes.