Juvenile Aftercare

Juvenile aftercare consists of supervisory and support services provided to delinquent youth upon their release from residential facilities or juvenile correctional institutions. Aftercare programs and post-release supervision are designed to facilitate a smooth transition from facility to community during a period of time in which young people are particularly likely to encounter problems that place them at risk for reoffending. In preparation for this reintegration phase, aftercare workers and juvenile probation officers help youths become reenrolled in school, work with their families to ensure that there is a stable home environment, connect youths to employment opportunities, and locate other community-based services that fit their clients' individual needs. In addition to these support services, supervisory services require young people to meet conditions of their release, such as paying restitution, participating in community service activities, and passing regular drug screens.

Almost 100,000 youths are released from residential facilities each year, though this number is decreasing as youth confinement is utilized less frequently since the height of the juvenile get-tough-on-crime movement in the 1990s. Using the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, it is possible to develop an empirical portrait of returning youths. The vast majority are male (88 percent) and racial or ethnic minorities (39 percent are black, non-Hispanic and 17 percent are Hispanic). Nearly one fifth (19 percent) are 14 years old or younger, and more than one third (36 percent) are age 17 or older. The majority of returning youths (60 percent) were committed to facilities for nonviolent offenses such as property crimes (31 percent), drug offenses (9 percent), public order offenses (15 percent), and status offenses (4 percent). Although the average length of stay inside a facility is less than one year, most returning youths have been court-ordered to multiple facilities and spend a significant portion of their adolescence incarcerated.

Failure during the reentry phase is common. As many as two thirds of returning youths are rear-rested, and up to one third are reincarcerated within a few years after release. Less than a third are either in school or employed a year after leaving facilities. Because young people inside residential placements present greater needs than their adolescent counterparts, they are an especially vulnerable population upon release. They encounter significant challenges in terms of family stability, educational attainment, mental health, and substance abuse. The majority (70 percent) are raised in (and return to) single-parent homes, and just over half (52 percent) have at least one family member who has also been incarcerated. These young people are also particularly likely to have children of their own already. Incarcerated youths are more than twice as likely as the general population of U.S. adolescents not to have completed the eighth grade (58 percent versus 24 percent). By the time they reach young adulthood, only 12 percent of formerly incarcerated youths have a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED), compared to 74 percent of their cohorts. Special education needs are found among this population at three to five times the rate of other young people of the same age. One in eight is identified as mentally retarded. The majority of incarcerated youths have some sort of mental health problem, including disruptive behavioral disorders, anxiety disorders, or mood disorders. These young people are significantly more likely than their adolescent counterparts to consider, attempt, or complete suicide. Finally, they are also more likely to report being involved with drugs and/or alcohol and at earlier ages than are adolescents in the general population.

...