California's Juvenile Probation Camps: Findings and Implications

Abstract

All county juvenile probation camps operating in California in 1984 were surveyed and 2,835 randomly selected camp releases and removals were followed up for two years. Although the camps provided considerable immediate and longer-term community protection, 65% of the cohort recidivated during the follow-up and 29% were committed to state correctional institutions. However, by comparing camps with each other, several sets of camp characteristics were found to be associated with sizable reductions in recidivism and state commitment. This and related findings suggest that substantial improvements may be possible in the degree of protection camps can provide, and this has implications for the juvenile justice system as a whole. For instance, less recidivism at the county level can lead to lower state commitment rates. This, in turn, can mean less crowding in California's state institutions, less need to construct new facilities, and proportionately more funds remaining for quality programming and for alternatives to incarceration.

Into adulthood: a follow‐up study of 718 young people who were placed in out‐of‐home care during their teens

“…Generally, our results point in the same direction as other follow‐up studies of antisocial youth placed in residential care (e.g. Palmer & Wedges 1989; Collins et al . 2001; review in Andreassen 2003).…”

Successful Restitution as a Predictor of Juvenile Recidivism

“…Given this dismal picture of juvenile justice, it is not surprising that recidivism among moderately serious, adjudicated youthful offenders is high --67% in one 1982 study of more than 3,000 male youths committed to probation camps in California who were followed for 24 months. (Palmer and Wedge, 1989)." Against this backdrop, it is at least somewhat refreshing to find that research on juvenile restitution projects report lower recidivism among youthful offenders involved in restitution programs than among other juvenile offenders.…”