THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MENTORING ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Back to Page Authors: Kate Elizabeth Coffey

Keywords: Mentoring, Juvenile Delinquency, Juvenile Justice, Attitudes and Behaviors

Abstract: Juvenile delinquency dates back centuries. The juvenile justice system has changed the way they treat juveniles who commit crimes. Punishment is no longer the mainstay. Different programs have been created to rehabilitate as opposed to punishment. One recent approach is the idea of mentoring. Mentoring provides services to at-risk youth to reduce recidivism and promote behavioral and attitude changes. The mentoring program in this study is for juveniles age 12-21 that have been adjudicated of a crime. They are court-mandated to a six month mentoring program. The client must reach 78 contact hours in the six months to be considered successful. At intake, as well as during discharge, the client is given the Behavioral Assessment System for Children - BASC-3, an assessment tool used to track behavior/attitude changes. The purpose of the assessment is to analyze any significant changes promoted by mentoring. This study utilized secondary data from a Southeastern Pennsylvania agency to determine the overall research question: Is mentoring effective for juvenile delinquency? The researcher utilized 25 closed cases and using data analysis (frequencies and cross-tabulations) was able to determine relationships between six different hypotheses. Theories are discussed as well as appropriate ways to move forward with this type of programming and what can be done to improve these types of services.