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“Taxpayers pay $108,820 a year per juvenile in placement.”
Sorry, Virginia taxpayers, but the hard, cold fact is that you’re wasting your money. While government officials attempt to find answers to ever-increasing costs for juvenile placements (that years of research shows doesn’t decrease future criminal behavior), a Hampton Roads editorial recently echoed the pleas of organizations like Evidence-Based Associates (EBA): Stop locking low- and moderate-risk offenders up and throwing money away.
$108,820 is a lot of money to keep an at-risk youth behind bars. Especially when evidence shows that on average over 60 percent will return back to that cell within three years. This costly and ineffective boomerang policy is taking place all across the country —but people are finally starting to take notice. The purse strings are tightening and the eyes are opening, desperate for better solutions.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore, Maryland, recently reported on positive alternatives to incarceration for our nation’s troubled youth. They gathered the grim statistics on state-based programs that are wasting money but, thankfully, balanced that data with information on programs that have succeeded. Casey officials push these data out to the public in hopes that other states, such as Virginia, will notice and start looking away from facility expansion budgets and more towards community-based alternatives. The Casey Foundation’s latest report, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration, demonstrates that “youth prisions do not reduce future offending, they waste taxpayer dollars and they frequently expose youth to dangerous and abusive conditions.” It highlights successes of certain programs, one being the Redirection Project in Florida. This project alone, over the last five years, has saved Florida tax-payers $41 million by ‘redirecting’ youth away from costly and ineffective placements and instead addressed the mental health and criminogenic needs of more than 6,400 troubled youth and families – good news for their futures and for the safety of the Florida communities.
To learn more about the Redirection Project or Evidence-Based Associates’ other projects, visit their website or call (843) 343-8747.
The cost-effectiveness of utilizing evidence-based programs available through the Redirection project proves itself time and time again. But most impressive, is the fact that this project has reached another milestone. During the past quarter, the Redirection project served its 6,000 youth – continuing to positively impact thousands of families around the state of Florida.
This innovative, award-winning project for offending youth offers a solution that has consistently produced positive results (i.e., reduced felony adjudications and reduced commitment in the adult system) while at the same time demonstrating cost-savings to Florida of more than $51 million in the first four years of operation. The project is evaluated each year by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) and has received legislative reauthorization annually based on its positive results.
The Florida Legislature and the Department of Juvenile Justice partnered together to create Redirection as a pilot project in 2004 to address two significant problems the state faced: 1) the high rate of incarceration of youth, especially youth with non-law violations (i.e., violations of probation); and 2) the less than optimal implementation of evidence-based programs across the state. Prior to Redirection, the state of Florida funded four evidence-based programs [two Functional Family Therapy (FFT) and two Multisystemic Therapy (MST) teams] but struggled to monitor implementation, quality, utilization and return on investment.
EBA was brought on board in 2004 to oversee the implementation of Redirection. With EBA in a project management role, Redirection began with the four existing teams and less than 200 youth per year expected to enroll in the program. Under EBA’s leadership, Redirection has grown in capacity each year and now serves nearly 1,400 youth per year and most notably, has served more than 6,000 youth since inception. To follow the progress of the Redirection project, visit EBA’s website.
EBP Therapist
Begin or advance your career in family therapy with Evidence-Based Associates.
Are you looking for an opportunity to participate in an internationally recognized, proven, evidence-based therapy program; a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art program that consistently results in successful outcomes?
Are you passionate about serving youth who are in the delinquency system, and their families?
Do you possess superior interpersonal and open communication skills?
Do you want to work in a supportive environment with instructive and constructive oversight from dedicated professionals trained to address the needs of children in the delinquency system?
If this is you, we want you!
Master’s in a mental health field preferred. Competitive benefits. Base salary range: $31,000 to $46,000, commensurate with experience. Job openings throughout Florida for our award-winning Redirection Project.
Forward your resume to: mmcalister@ebanetwork.com
As our friends “across the pond” spend more time and resources getting serious about how private investors can tackle deep-rooted societal issues, which usually become the first to fall victim to government program cuts, they are coming up with some innovative ideas; one in particular known as social impact bonds.
As noted by the Social Finance Groups’ August 2010 report, the group that conceptualized this new contracting and financing mechanism, social impact bonds ‘seek to drive significant non-government investment into addressing the causes of deep-rooted social problems with returns generated from a proportion of the related reduction in spending on acute services. The ambition is to create positive government spending cycles that enable significant tax payer savings through improved social outcomes.’
Social impact bonds are based on a commitment from government to use a portion of the savings that result from improved social outcomes to reward non-government, private individuals and venture capital investors who fund the early intervention activities.
Ironically, our Redirection project in Florida offers an ideal template for application of this creative approach to financing government services. Recently noted in a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Florida’s Tax Watch organization, Redirection is a project that produces better outcomes than incarceration at significantly less cost, saving the state more than $50 million over the past five years while improving public safety. Together with Steve Aos’s groundbreaking work tying high quality implementation of certain top tier programs to a specific return on investment can provide the basis for a private sector investment opportunity.
For example, with our performance-based contracts, if a private investor wanted to fund the early intervention activities of a project like Redirection with the social bond structure, the government would use a proportion of the savings that result from improved social outcomes to reward the investors. Everyone wins with better outcomes for the youth and families served, government systems and taxpayers who traditionally bear the responsibilities and costs and the private investors who carry the initial financial risk.
Recently, I was invited by Michael Little and his colleagues at the renowned Social Research Unit at Dartington to visit the United Kingdom to share my thoughts and experiences on ways the country can address the causes instead of the consequences of issues that have vexed us for generations. While our cultures, political and governments systems are different, we do share common commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children through careful application of cost effective programs.
The potential range of applications for social impact bonds is still being examined, however the Social Finance Group believes that this approach is broad enough to enable change in four key ways, including:
1. Unlocking an unprecedented flow of social finance
2. Creating an ‘evidence incentive’
3. Creating an ‘innovative incentive’
4. Changing the role of government
While this area is still being explored, it is becoming clear that financial and social goals need not be mutually exclusive. If we can break through traditional boundaries of “socially responsible investment,” and implement properly with integrity and efficiency, this exciting and innovative concept of impact investing has the potential to completely change our definition of ‘public-private partnerships.’
Evidence-Based Associates applauds Attorney General Holder’s recent remarks to the National Association of Counties in his call for the nation to “transition from a prosecution-and-punishment model to a prevention-and-intervention paradigm…and to “adopt a comprehensive plan of action – one that engages law-enforcement partners, medical professionals, social services providers, lawyers, parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, and community leaders”. After years of often misguided federal policy that too often brought a political ‘quick fix’ response to sensational cases involving youth offenders, Mr. Holder’s thoughtful strategy to merge community ownership of the influences contributing to problem behaviors among its youngest residents with well established science employing the highest standards of evidence-based program application is an approach that will save young lives while protecting diminishing resources – both precious commodities for our nation’s future.
Evidence-Based Associates joins General Holder in supporting this shift from a national tradition of over reliance on institutions and an under reliance on effective, community and systems-led solutions to problems that have perplexed us for generations.
Read General Holder’s full speech here.
As an organization that prides itself in producing measurable and beneficial results – for youth and taxpayers – we are alarmed that the ‘scared straight’ tactics that were proven unsuccessful in decades past have returned in A&E Television Network’s latest series, “Beyond Scared Straight”.
We fully support the Coalition for Juvenile Justice in their stance that this method of intervention can in fact lead to increased offending. There is proven and clear evidence that demonstrates youth do not benefit from these methods and that they in fact do more harm than good.
While the show produces shocking content to entertain its audience, we urge the network producers to consider not only the facts and the potential damage they are doing to the participants’ lives, but also to the message being sent to our nation’s youth.
By exposing the viewer to this raw, sensationalized view of a child’s fear of prison and the consequences of criminal behavior, we are actually presenting a one-sided, antiquated view that weakens the impact that many of the proven, evidence-based programs could have on our society.
The advancements achieved through the programs that EBA represents, while not garnering reality-TV fame, successfully redirect troubled youth from prison to more effective, family-focused, evidence-based treatment options, save millions of tax-payer dollars and improve public safety.
We strongly encourage others to demand A&E remove this damaging show from their schedule.
Outcomes for Florida’s Redirection Project
The current recidivism evaluation of youth released in fiscal year 2007-08, indicates that juvenile referral/adult arrest and juvenile adjudication/adult conviction within one year of program completion is lower for youth in the Redirection project in comparison to those completing residential commitment services. These findings are particularly promising in light of cost figures which suggest that Redirection, as an alternative to commitment, has the potential to save over $30,939 dollars per juvenile offender. According to the 2009 DJJ Program Accountability Measures Report, it costs, on average, $40,235 for every juvenile offender who completes residential commitment (based on 2007-08 low, moderate and high–risk residential expenditures).  The current recidivism evaluation of youthreleased in fiscal year 2007-08, indicates thatjuvenile referral/adult arrest and juvenileadjudication/adult conviction within one yearof program completion is lower for youth in the Redirection project in comparison to those completing residential commitment services.These findings are particularly promising in light of cost figures whichsuggest that Redirection, as an alternative to commitment, has the potentialto save over $30,939 dollars per juvenile offender. According to the 2009 DJJ Program Accountability Measures Report, it costs, on average, $40,235for every juvenile offender who completes residential commitment (basedon 2007-08 low, moderate and high–risk residential expenditures).
The opening plenary session at the 2010 Blueprints Conference in San Antonio, Texas, is an event not to be missed by anyone involved in helping at-risk youth. There will be an historic gathering of leaders of the Blueprints for Violence Prevention effort, who will discuss ‘A 10-Year Retrospective and Look to the Future.’ In a fast-paced and unrehearsed format, these pioneers will debate how far evidence-based programs have come since their initial development and how far we still have to go to ensure effective
public policy.
Participants include:
- Del Elliott, founder of the Blueprints project and director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado;
- Shay Bilchik, former administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1992-2000) and current director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University;
- David Olds, director of the Prevention Research Center for Family and Child Health at the University of Colorado and developer of Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP);
- Mary Ann Pentz, director of the Center for Prevention Policy Research at the University of Southern California and developer of the Midwestern Prevention Project;
- Mark Greenberg, director of the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University and developer of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS);
- Gil Botvin, director of the Institute for Prevention Research at Cornell University and developer of Life Skills Training (LST);
- Jim Alexander, professor of psychology at the University of Utah and developer of Functional Family Therapy (FFT); and
- Scott Henggeler, director of the Family Services Research Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and developer of Multisystemic Therapy (MST).
The discussion will be moderated by Clay Yeager, a consultant with Evidence-Based Associates and former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the U.S. has declined. Survey data compiled by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators, indicate that as of January 1, 2010, there were 1,403,091 persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 5,739 (0.4 percent) fewer than there were on December 31, 2008. This marks the first year-to-year drop in the state prison population since 1972…”
“…In 27 states, the population dropped, with some posting substantial reductions. Meanwhile, the number of prisoners continued to grow in the other 23 states, several with significant increases.”
Read the full report.
In his recent State of the City address, New York City mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, unveiled a plan to combine the city’s Department of Juvenile Justice and the Administration for Children’s Services (NYC’s child welfare agency). The overall intent of this merger is to reduce the amount of youth offenders spending time in jail.
Through “community-based” programming, the city aims to allow youth offenders, who are deemed not dangerous to the community, to remain with their families, in their homes and in their communities. Previously, judges have sentenced these youths to release on probation or time in juvenile detention facilities or residential homes. Now, a third option will be available: allowing the teen to return to his or her home, and undergo intense community-based programs which will incorporate curfews, meeting academic goals and accountability for his or her actions.
The ultimate goal rests in the desire to rehabilitate these juvenile offenders to become responsible, productive members of their communities. Additionally, the city will save money, by reducing the capacities of its detention facilities, reduce recidivism, which currently runs at roughly 75% for youth offenders within three years of their release from detention centers, and build a more united mechanism for dealing with juvenile crime, by merging the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Administration for Children’s Services.
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