NCJ Number
160581
Date Published
1993
Length
58 pages
Annotation
This report describes the purpose, structure, content, and results of a 3-day program conducted in Los Angeles and focusing on youthful offenders who had committed bias- related crimes.
Abstract
Operation Grow Hair was directed at a group called the Fourth Reich Skinheads, which espoused the idea of a race war and took part in racially motivated bombings and the desecration of a synagogue. Following the youths' arrest, a prosecutor developed and carried out a plan to try to retrieve the future lives of the Fourth Reich Skinheads through a program of counseling by members of some of the groups toward which the youth had directed their hatred and violence. Thirteen members of the group took part in the program. Their ages ranged from 15 to 20. The program's goal was to present participants with choices and communicate that if they did not want to have their personal freedom restricted by the criminal justice system, they needed to choose to change their behavior. The program also aimed to introduce them to the Holocaust, help them develop empathy for people outside their racial group, and present positive alternative behaviors to handle their feelings of powerlessness and anger. The program included a tour of the Los Angeles County jail. The final day consisted of a carefully prepared mediation involving the youths and members of victim groups. Participant evaluations revealed that the program succeeded in influencing youths' willingness to commit acts of violence as well as their views of racial supremacy. Appended program guidelines, outline, and details of participant evaluations