Local Community Service System and ISOS (Illinois Status Offender Services) - An Interorganizational Analysis

• NCJ Number: 79331
• Author(s): I A Spergel; J Korbelik; J P Lynch
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 161 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Illinois Law Enforcement Cmssn (see Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority)
• Corporate Author: University of Chicago
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This interorganizational analysis of the Illinois Status Offender Services (ISOS) project focuses on systems of youth-serving organizations which influenced the program and on elements of the program which may have influenced these systems.

Abstract

Observations were obtained on characteristics of Illinois organizations serving or concerned with youth in four Chicago communities or community clusters and in Decatur, Ill. Emphasis was placed on (1) the kinds of community service systems that exist and how they are changing to deal with status offenders in these communities, (2) the special conditions that existed that may have impeded or facilitated the effectiveness of the ISOS program, and (3) how ISOS is beginning to fit into these communities and their service systems. The Chicago communities included a low-income, mainly black neighborhood with high delinquency rates; moderate-income, mainly black neighborhoods with moderate to low delinquency rates; moderate-income, mainly white neighborhoods with fairly low delinquency rates; and a transitional community. The study concluded that communities vary systematically in relation to certain organizaional and interorganizational characteristics: community basedness, goals and objectives, service patterns, tolerance for deviant behavior, and connectedness of agencies. In addition, certain community characteristics are associated with high or low rates of youth deviancy, including status offenses. The report presents a tentative model for the differential impact of ISOS on criminal justice processing of status offenders. The study findings suggest that community service variables are an important link between sociodemographic variables and police disposition variables. It is recommended that ISOS develop a more decentralized community strategy and encourage organizational interest in the more general needs of status offenders. Moreover, local agencies and groups should create appropriate and consistent local norms of behavior for status offenders. A total of 26 footnotes and related study materials are appended. (Author summary modified)