NCJ Number
153058
Date Published
1995
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Preliminary findings on the Children at Risk Program (CAR) are based on official records on the 228 youths recruited for the evaluation between January and May 1993 in Austin, Bridgeport, Memphis, and Seattle.
Abstract
CAR is an intensive 2-year intervention for high-risk youth in high-risk neighborhoods. Coordinated planning and services integration are central to the program. Local programs are encouraged to build on existing resources, identify the needs of their areas, and develop culturally appropriate activities. Each program is required to include eight components considered key to comprehensive prevention: case management, family services, education services, after-school and summer activities, mentoring, incentives, community policing/enhanced enforcement, and criminal/juvenile justice intervention. Analysis of officially recorded police and juvenile court contacts shows that CAR participants had fewer contacts with the criminal justice system than nonparticipants during the first year of the program. CAR youths had 41 contacts with the police in the first 12 months after joining the program, compared to 69 police contacts during this period for youths in the randomly assigned control group. CAR youths had 34 contacts with juvenile court in the first 12 months after joining the program, compared to 71 court contacts during this period for youths in the control group. CAR participants also had better school attendance and grade promotions than nonparticipants, although CAR participants did not have better grades. The differences in promotion rates may be due to improvements in behavior and reductions in chronic absenteeism by CAR participants. 2 tables and extensive graphic data