NCJ Number
180844
Date Published
1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the work of Pennsylvania's school-based juvenile probation officers, reports on evaluation results, and outlines the program's benefits and the arguments of its critics.
Abstract
Since 1990 the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges' Commission and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency have provided more than $5 million in funding support for school-based probation programs in 50 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Through this initiative, some 150 probation officers, working in about 300 schools, have served more than 16,000 juveniles. The largest and most active school-based probation program in the State operates in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh). This paper profiles the work of juvenile probation officers in two middle schools and one high school in Allegheny County. Evaluation results show that compared to traditional juvenile probation formats, school-based probation programs have increased school attendance and school performance among juvenile probationers while reducing recidivism. Advocates claim that school-based probation not only provides more effective probation monitoring, but also impacts undetected delinquent and at-risk youth. Critics, however, question this probation format as the sacrifice of individual privacy to administrative expedience, the stigmatizing of probationers in a setting where they most need status and acceptance, and the confounding of correctional and educational missions. 4 references