Tranforming Juveniles Through Successful Transition

    On Monday October 20th, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting where the Maricopa County Education Service Agency presented on the progress of their 5 year pilot program that aims to make a major impact on juvenile recidivism rates. The meeting was introduced by Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Don Covey. Dr. Covey expressed that the agency has utilized a collective impact model to ensure that there was not a redundancy in services offered throughout the county.  He explained that agencies do not lose their identity; instead there is an enhancement to the system when various agencies collaborate.

     Chief Deputy Superintendent Christine Morris showed how MCESA is shifting from justice as punishment, to an involved system of reform and transformation. Maricopa County realized that the cyclical punishment of youth without foundations to return home to following incarceration aided to the constant reentry of past juvenile offenders into the juvenile and adult jail system.  McESA believes that education can be used as a tool to reduce crime. Statistics show that of 10,634 past juvenile offenders with unknown schooling status, 25% of those youth are of the recidivism population. McESA works as a coordinate of probation responses. They assist with Case Management of kids who were not going to school, who were pushed out of school, or not welcome to attend their former school. The fact that students must find a new school acts as an initial barrier to education, and McESA’s goal is to make this transition easier.

Mrs. Morris defined High Risk youth as youth that cycle through the system, and constantly re-enter it. This project has established Interagency Board of Directors to help monitor the project and see to it that the focus on medium to high risk youth is not lost and the collective vision is carried out.

Here are some of the goals of the Pilot Program:

1. Increase support for youth to reduce delinquency and future incarceration rates.
2. Engage school systems to create conditions for achieving student educational success
3. To reduce recidivism and reentry of juveniles in justice system

 

Stages of Transformation

The Potential Relapse Period for a youth classified as a chronic offender occurs within two major parts of the Stages of Transformation. During 30 days from their Exit from Secure Care and during the aftercare stage that is split into 3 levels (Performing, Transformation, and Sustaining) currently 260 of the 496 cases they have received are active in the stages of transformation. The social cost of recidivism rates approximates to 17.5 Billion dollars. The economy is missing out on those students who become adults that result in citizens not contributing to the community.