Interventions and Services Offered to Former Juvenile Offenders Reentering Their Communities

• Author: Cheryl Jones-Walker,Margaret Beale Spencer
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204003260049
• Published date: 01 January 2004
• Date: 01 January 2004
• Subject Matter: Journal Article

10.1177/1541204003260049ARTICLEYouth Violence and Juvenile JusticeSpencer, Jones-Walker / FORMER JUVENILE OFFENDERS

INTERVENTIONS AND SERVICES OFFERED

TO FORMER JUVENILE OFFENDERS

REENTERING THEIR COMMUNITIES:

An Analysis of Program Effectiveness

Margaret Beale Spencer

Cheryl Jones-Walker

University of Pennsylvania

The authors review youth reentry and reintegration programming services findings and

describe what works and what does not. Then, as an explanatory strategy for

interpreting the findings, they introduce overlooked issues concerning identity

formation and the influences of race/ethnicity and class. They consider (a) a systems

theoretical stance that acknowledges youths’ perspectives, (b) human development

themes that do not emphasize psychopathology, and (c) the settings where reentry and

reintegration programming occur. The authors conclude by recommending strategies

for improving assessments of programming and services.

Keywords: youth reentry; community interventions; juvenile reintegration

In this article, we summarize current research on the reintegration of young people

released from correctional facilities. There is a significant amount of research conducted by

psychologists, sociologists, and social workers concerning juvenile justice and the

rehabilitation of youth offenders. However, only a small fraction of this work explores and

assesses the interventions and services accessible to young adults who are returning to a life

of independence and negotiating their way through schools, job-training options, work

settings, and family life. And what research does exist takes too narrow a view of reentry

outcomes, emphasizing primarily whether youth recidivate, not whether they succeed in a

number of other critical domains, such as school, finding work, and developing prosocial

peer friendships.

As noted, we begin with a review of youth reentry and reintegration programming

efforts and services. To this end, we identify elements of effective programming, effective

community-based interventions, and the types of transitional supports required for

successful reintegration. We then turn to a neglected area of discussion in analyses of “best

practices” and effective programming. Specifically, we discuss the importance of identity

formation as an unavoidable and normal part of the human experience that is part of the

reentry process and can affect reentry outcomes. Serving time in the criminal justice system

and exiting it as an ex-offender provides a potential life-changing experience. Accordingly,

88

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Vol. 2 No. 1, January 2004 88-97

DOI: 10.1177/1541204003260049

© 2004 Sage Publications