NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION Each community demonstration has learned that neighborhood development is an important component of delinquency prevention programs. Increasing the capacity of local residents in planning and action for their youth can result in deterrent forces to youthful misbehavior. Along with representatives of the larger community, target area residents now serve on boards and committees of the demonstration projects. Increasingly, projects are training and employing adults and youth for subprofessional staff roles in their project. Following the lead of the juvenile delinquency demonstrations, the Office of Economic Opportunity is requiring the involvement of neighborhood residents in the planning and action of community antipoverty programs. These attempts to increase the ability of local residents to participate more fruitfully in the affairs of the community have taken many forms. Local residents have been involved as volunteers in service programs. New roles have been found for them as paid workers in the emerging programs or the ongoing programs of existing agencies and institutions. They have served on local advisory groups and as members of the boards and committees of demonstration projects. In some instances, projects have engaged in neighborhood organization, working with residents' groups and councils, or assisting in the creation of new groups which serve as a democratic vehicle for the expression of the neighborhood. SPECIAL DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS The Federal delinquency program has stimulated communities to attack delinquency on a broad scale, concentrating primarily on the deprived inner city areas which have the highest delinquency rates. Other geographic areas and other forms of delinquency also demand attention. There are children who are most resistant to conventional behavior, who are isolated from schools, jobs, and adults. There are middle-class youngsters who disrupt the community. Personal violence, sexual deviance, and the use of addictive substances such as drugs, pep pills, and glue are all special problems of increasing importance. In the present fiscal year we were able to turn our attention to some of these problems. We have earmarked $1.8 million for such special demonstration projects. Special demonstration grants are developing new techniques to effectively reach delinquent youth. In two demonstration projects (Louisville, Ky., and Newark, N.J.) a newly developed and promising group technique (guided group interaction) pressures delinquents into taking a hard look at themselves, why they want to fight the world, where they want to go and, hopefully, to change. In Tuscon, Ariz., a project works with children who are behavior problems in school to motivate and teach them to succeed in the school system. In Salem, Oreg., boys released from the State training school are given job training in a halfway house setting to prepare them to return to the community. Another major area of special demonstration grants focuses on the institutions which deal directly with the delinquent child (police, courts, and training schools). These institutions are often understaffed and overcrowded. They have to deal on a day-to-day basis with problem children. Until very recently, they, as well as the children they serve, have been out of the mainstream. Overcrowded police youth bureaus and juvenile courts literally have no place, in or out of the community, to refer delinquent children. Crowded correctional institutions have been forced to release children back into society (or to hold them in the institution when they were ready for release) knowing that there were no resources and that these children might soon return. In Detroit, the overcrowded police youth bureaus and juvenile courts can refer delinquent children, as an alternative to court adjudication, to a neighborhood committee. This committee, composed of professional and lay people, will work closely with the schools and with the Detroit poverty program to maximize job and educational opportunities. The referred children should profit; the police and court are free to concentrate on the hard-core offenders. In Tempe, Ariz., the Pima Indian Tribal Council is taking responsibility for Pima youth who would otherwise be sent by the court to the State industrial school. The tribal council has instituted a program which stresses tribal spiritual values, effective community concern, and training for jobs. The Department of Corrections of Kentucky, has discussed a proposal to stimulate and improve education and motivation for incarcerated youthful offenders. We hope to move prisoners into new community correctional centers which in turn will provide job training more quickly. Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J.) is using new techniques with problem schoolchildren to keep them in school. Simultaneously, the school system is working to incorporate these techniques into the regular program to provide a way of dealing with children who would otherwise be in special classes (and later be dropouts). In summary then, the special demonstration grants are putting into operation techniques for dealing with delinquent or predelinquent children and developing new working arrangements between agencies for handling delinquents. They suggest alternatives to costly institutionalization and ways to reintegrate those already institutionalized, thus preventing troublesome and costly recidivism. TRAINING Of equal importance have been the training programs initiated under the act. There has long been a shortage of trained manpower for youth-serving programs. This shortage has become more acute as new antidelinquency and antipoverty programs have been established. The Federal delinquency program has sought to improve the quality of training by making available new insights and knowledge through new materials and methods. We have sought to increase quantity of personnel through development of training methods and programs which make possible much greater participation by lay persons in youth programs. Such programs have reached not only laymen from the educated, middle-class community, but persons with little formal education and few specialized skills who can work in programs in their own immediate neighborhoods. As in the demonstration programs, we have stimulated programs drawing the best from the wide variety of social sciences, utilizing the facilities and resources of the university, the social welfare agencies, and the community at large. The Federal program has fostered partnerships among segments of our society which hitherto have shared little in joint pursuit of the solution to major social problems. The granting categories of (1) "training center," (2) "curriculum development," and (3) workshops, institutes, seminars," WISE grants) were developto establish a pattern for meeting the varied needs for training. Training centers provide an interdisciplinary, university training base for the community, State, and region; curriculum development grants organize knowledge in communicable form; and workshops, institutes, seminars grants train the personnel needed and test new techniques and the curriculum materials which have been developed. TRAINING CENTERS Twelve have been developed from coast to coast, in the North and South, and represent a unique organizational base for involving the expertise of the university in studying the problem of delinquency and actively training all levels of personnel to work with problem youth. They have stimulated changes in college and professional curriculums and have trained police, probation and parole officers, juvenile court judges, teachers, community leaders, volunteers, forestry camp administrators, guidance personnel, and employment counselors. Centers have worked with community leadership to develop programs for delinquent youth: Southern Illinois University, for example, has stimulated East St. Louis to take action on its problems. They have served as consultants to community agencies, city officials, State legislative bodies and agencies, and to the mass media. They have been used as training sources by national organizations such as the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the Council on Social Work Education, the American Correctional Association, the Council on State Governments, and by Federal agencies such as the Children's Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the Office of Economic Opportunity. As they are demonstrating their value the universities and local communities are increasingly absorbing the staff costs and administrative expenses of the centers. For the first time Federal funds have been used for the establishment of university-based organizations geared to training and curriculum development for the purpose of upgrading the quality of personnel in the area of delinquency prevention and control. A major problem in corrections has been the lack of close relations between university departments and the training needs of correctional and related agencies. The training centers have shown themselves to be an effective bridge between the two. This does not mean that there have been no problems in their development. Swelling enrollments, competition for faculty, the tight financial situation of most universities, the uniqueness of the training center objectives and role in the university structure have constituted difficulties in establishing them solidly. Nevertheless, we have learned how to work effectively within the university and community structure to organize viable centers. Their achievement of training objectives is now largely a question of adequate funding. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT These grants are designed to overcome the dearth of good materials available for training purposes, to bring present materials up to date, to provide a community and rehabilitative orientation to the efforts of correctional workers, and to introduce new knowledge and techniques based upon research in the social and behavioral sciences. The following are some examples of the range of significant materials which have been developed : The use of family treatment techniques for rehabilitating sexually delinquent girls by the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center. Of 15 families worked with there has been only 1 relapse. This is the first time this technique has been used to manage this problem, and manuals to instruct other groups are now near completion. Studies of police decisionmaking on juvenile problems by several universities, and the development of uniform materials for police specialists on juveniles by the University of Wisconsin. The police have significant areas of discretion in handling juveniles, yet the consequences of these decisions are poorly understood and therefore poorly utilized. St. Louis University is analyzing the curriculum of seminaries in order to introduce social and behavioral science materials that will make graduates more effective in working with delinquents. The study has shown that the educational preparation of clergy to take a direct or leadership role with youth problems is neglected. At Hunter College education courses are being revised and new materials developed to better prepare teachers to cope with culturally deprived and predelinquent children in school; the University of Michigan has used group work techniques in classes with behavior problem children and brought about significant improvement in both behavior and educational attainments. Dr. Bruno Bettleheim, University of Chicago, has studied the interactions of teachers and students and developed measures for the reduction of violence in the schools. Student violence is a function not only of the student, but often of teacher attitudes and behavior. New York University has developed new instruments for the evaluation of training. These are being experimentally utilized by several correctional agencies with positive results. At Brigham Young University and the University of Michigan tapes, written materials, and visual aids have been developed to teach the use of the group process in the rehabilitation of delinquent boys and girls. In Harlem, new materials have been produced for the training of indigenous leadership to work with youth problems, as well as a pilot project for an urban service corps. Because of the significance of the police in delinquency control and the current importance given to their role, more detailed information follows on police training programs initiated by OJD-YD: International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) The IACP projects have been directed at the nonspecialized police officer rather than the juvenile specialist. This is based on the fact that the bulk of arrests and contacts with juveniles are made by line officers rather than juvenile specialists. Many of these line officers, lacking training in the handling of juveniles, have misconceptions about police practices relative to juveniles. Some of these practices may adversely affect the juveniles and the image of the police department. The IACP holds that an effective response to the problems of the juvenile offender requires that all levels of police organizations develop adequately trained officers to intelligently and effectively deal with the juvenile offender. The IACP has carried out a two part but concurrent approach to the training of police. One part has been the development of a selection of training and curriculum materials on police and the juvenile, and the second part has been the testing and development of these materials in a series of regional workshops throughout the United States. A number of publications have resulted from these projects dealing with causes of juvenile delinquency, basic problems in delinquency control and police work with children. Two areas which should receive further attention in view of the current situation are: (1) juvenile problems as associated with racial tension and (2) youth violence and civil disorders in resort centers such as Ocean City, Md.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Hampton Beach, N.H. These kinds of situations present serious enforcement problems for the police and the community. Suggestions have been made to the IACP that this be included in their next workshop and a recent look at their tentative program indicates that they have included this in the study agenda. The handling of juveniles from offense to disposition A two volume casebook has been prepared by the School of Criminology at the University of California in Berkeley under juvenile delinquency grants. The materials were prepared by members of the school of criminology staff under the leadership of Dean Joseph Lohman. The casebook is unusual in that it takes the juvenile offender through a series of decisions beginning with the initial arrest by the police to the final disposition of the case by the juvenile court. The casebook serves as a training aid, not only for the police officer, but also for the probation officer, the detention personnel, and the juvenile court judge. It is especially valuable because it not only shows what decisions were made but it also shows why. It should help to lessen the misunderstandings that tend to develop between police and probation officers. Institute of Government—University of Wisconsin police training project This project is developing uniform, high-quality juvenile police practices throughout the State of Wisconsin. A standard training publication based on Wisconsin juvenile codes and acceptable police standards in working with juvenile offenders has been published. These materials have been tested on various police trainees at the University of Wisconsin Institute of Government. Regional training programs throughout Wisconsin have been established to insure that police receive uniform training on juvenile police work. The institute of government also trains a teaching cadre in all regions of the State so that these workshops can be continued by local police leadership. WORKSHOPS, INSTITUTES, SEMINARS More than 100 grants have been awarded to universities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations for short-term training of more than 12,500 youth workers. These short-term workshops and institutes, which may last a few days or a few weeks, are designed for workers who cannot leave their jobs for extended periods. They stress new techniques and information which can be communicated to other agencies and can be fed into the university-based training centers. These programs are reaching all levels of school personnel, welfare workers from all kinds of institutions and agencies, law enforcement officers, civic leaders, judges, volunteers, clergymen, and citizens with an interest in delinquency. At a workshop for key administrators and professionals policy guidelines for the use of forestry camps for delinquents were established. All previous materials are badly outdated. Staff in the State training schools of California have been trained in new procedures so that more effective rehabilitation will take place. Ways in which other institutions may duplicate the project's experience are being prepared in four training manuals. At the Federal institution in Englewood, Colo., teachers have learned how to use better methods in educating institutionalized delinquents, and a book is in process of publication. Institutes for training professionals and administrators to reintegrate narcotics addicts into the community have been held at the New York Medical College. The office of the court administrator, Lansing, Mich., has shown how mock court procedures can be used to dramatically bring home to judges the need for legal protection of juveniles. Much more work needs to be done to provide adequate legal safeguard to juveniles. Delinquent and delinquency prone youth have been involved in an experimental training program at Howard University leading to new careers as human service aids. They haves not committed any delinquent acts since their involvement. New juvenile court judges in Colorado have been trained to assume their responsibilities by the University of Denver. In many jurisdictions new judges receive no special training whatever. The Youth Studies Center of the University of Southern California has held a workshop on problems in working with gangs; the National Federation of Settlements has trained recreational workers from various parts of the country to do detached work with gangs. New training materials as a result of these programs have been produced. The University of North Carolina and the Kansas Boys Industrial School have run institutes for the training of administrators to improve programs for rehabilitating institutionalized delinquents. This series of regional institutes on parole was initiated by the Office of Juvenile Delinquency with the National Council on Crime & Delinquency to provide training for members of State parole boards. Many of these individuals have had little contact with correctional programs or correctional theory and yet they are responsible for decisions which have a major effect on the lives of adult criminals and youthful offenders. They are jointly sponsored by the Interstate Compact Administrators Association for the Council of State Governments, the U.S. Board of Parole, Association of Paroling Authorities, and the Advisory Council on Parole of the National Council on Crime & Delinquency. TRAINING MATERIALS As a result of the work of the training centers, curriculum development, and workshop, institute, and seminar grantees, almost 200 published or publishable documents have been produced. (See appendix for complete listing.) Number of short-term trainees for fiscal years 1962, 1963, 1964 Miscellaneous (including multiservice organizations, national organizations, organized religion). Total----- 3,000 50 300 3,000 150 1,500 75 2,000 1,000 12, 575 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Training grants made to national organizations have led to significant changes within the organization. Grants have been made to the National Council on Crime & Delinquency, the Council on Social Work Education, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Committee for Children & Youth, Vera Foundation, Campfire Girls, and National Federation of Settlements & Community Centers. Council on Social Work Education: Three grants have led to the production of curriculum materials in corrections, institutes to plan field work experiences in corrections for social work students, and a major curriculum development study for bringing up to date and recasting the community organization sequence of the social work curriculum. International Association of Chiefs of Police: The training programs conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police have generated an influence for change that has affected many police departments throughout the country. National Committee for Children & Youth: The national conference run by the National Committee for Children & Youth was the first effort to concentrate national attention on the problems of rural youth. The conference papers and |