NCJ Number
74116
Date Published
1980
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This essay examines the extent to which funded restitution projects have been put in operation according to the intent of the funding body, in particular with the initiative goal of reducing juvenile incarceration.
Abstract
The research reported in this paper is based on preliminary information about the implementation of projects funded as part of the major 1978 initiative by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). In this study, codirectors of the national evaluation of the OJJDP project focus on the issue of program integrity, defined as compliance with the program's policy expectations. A special concern in the evaluation was the question of whether the clients of the restitution projects met the criteria for the target population as specified in the OJJDP guidelines for the initiative. The main goal of the OJJDP initiative was the reduction of incarceration rates of juveniles through the use of restitution as an alternative to incarceration. Despite definition ambiguities and many implementation problems, the codirectors find a substantial degree of compliance with the intent of the initiative. Nine endnotes and charts are included.