What Works Better Than Incarceration to Get Kids Back on Track

The research is clear: Deten­tion and harsh­er sen­tences for youth do not reduce crime. Instead, they cut young peo­ple off from sup­port­ive rela­tion­ships and often make com­mu­ni­ties less safe. Sup­port, not pun­ish­ment, helps youth thrive and keeps com­mu­ni­ties safer.

For more than 35 years, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has worked to trans­form the youth jus­tice sys­tem, study­ing what works and what doesn’t. Sci­ence and prac­tice point to the same truth: Chil­dren are dif­fer­ent from adults. Ado­les­cents are still devel­op­ing, and their brains are wired for risk-tak­ing and push­ing bound­aries. Tra­di­tion­al approach­es — incar­cer­a­tion and sur­veil­lance-heavy pro­ba­tion — often clash with nor­mal devel­op­ment and can push young peo­ple deep­er into the sys­tem instead of help­ing them mature. What works? Strate­gies that help young peo­ple become pro­duc­tive adults and con­tribute to safer communities.

Invest­ing in Ado­les­cent Development

Cen­tral to under­stand­ing how to respond to juve­nile crime is a grow­ing body of sci­ence on ado­les­cent brain devel­op­ment. Ado­les­cence is a win­dow of brain devel­op­ment as pow­er­ful as that of ear­ly child­hood. Young peo­ple are fig­ur­ing out who they are and who they want to be as they build life skills, like how to make impor­tant deci­sions and assume respon­si­bil­i­ty. Their minds are ready to learn, adapt, explore and discover.

When young peo­ple have guid­ance, men­tor­ing and sup­port­ive rela­tion­ships to nav­i­gate this stage of life, they are far more like­ly to suc­ceed. Approach­es that empha­size rewards and incen­tives for doing well, rather than pun­ish­ment for every mis­step, align with what we know about the ado­les­cent brain’s respon­sive­ness to pos­i­tive reinforcement.

Com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try are apply­ing this research to redesign pro­ba­tion sys­tems. In Pierce Coun­ty, Wash­ing­ton, home to Taco­ma, Oppor­tu­ni­ty-Based Pro­ba­tion has replaced puni­tive, rule-heavy super­vi­sion with incen­tive-based approach­es. Pro­ba­tion offi­cers and fam­i­lies set week­ly goals and reward progress. This pos­i­tive mod­el has led to few­er vio­la­tions, few­er new arrests and more youth on track — exact­ly what com­mu­ni­ties want.

Address­ing Ado­les­cent Trauma

Devel­op­men­tal­ly appro­pri­ate respons­es must also address trau­ma. More than half of jus­tice-involved youth have expe­ri­enced trau­ma, includ­ing hunger and expo­sure to vio­lence in their fam­i­lies or communities.

Trau­mat­ic expe­ri­ences can have pro­found effects on young peo­ple, including:

• dif­fi­cul­ty trust­ing people;
• feel­ings of hurt, rage and sadness;
• direct­ing that hurt at them­selves and oth­ers; and
• dif­fi­cul­ty imag­in­ing the future, let alone plan­ning for it.

That’s why it’s essen­tial to involve fam­i­lies — the most con­sis­tent and trust­ed sup­port in a young person’s life. Fam­i­ly engage­ment is one of the strongest pre­dic­tors of youth suc­cess, yet fam­i­lies are too often side­lined in the jus­tice sys­tem. When par­ents and care­givers are involved in case plan­ning, youth out­comes improve. Strong fam­i­ly con­nec­tions give youth a sense of belong­ing, account­abil­i­ty and resilience — the very anchors that con­fine­ment disrupts.

When young peo­ple act out due to trau­ma, pain and unmet needs, treat­ment and sup­port­ive rela­tion­ships are more effec­tive than sur­veil­lance and incar­cer­a­tion. The lat­ter respons­es only exac­er­bate the trau­ma and behav­ior and impede nec­es­sary healing.

Replac­ing Pun­ish­ment With Opportunity

Some juris­dic­tions are tak­ing bold steps to replace pun­ish­ment with oppor­tu­ni­ty, and the results are promis­ing. In Har­ris Coun­ty, Texas, home to Hous­ton, a shut­tered deten­tion cen­ter has been trans­formed into The Oppor­tu­ni­ty Cen­ter, which pro­vides job train­ing, men­tal health care and after-school pro­grams. By replac­ing pun­ish­ment with oppor­tu­ni­ty, the com­mu­ni­ty has cre­at­ed safer neigh­bor­hoods and stronger families.

Young peo­ple them­selves are also lead­ing change, help­ing com­mu­ni­ties reimag­ine pro­ba­tion from the ground up. In six states — Cal­i­for­nia, New Mex­i­co, Kansas, Indi­ana, Mis­sis­sip­pi and New Jer­sey — young peo­ple who were once on pro­ba­tion were hired and trained to con­duct focus groups with and sur­vey oth­er young peo­ple and fam­i­lies who have expe­ri­enced pro­ba­tion. Their efforts to find out what is and isn’t work­ing in youth pro­ba­tion and share these find­ings with youth jus­tice prac­ti­tion­ers, advo­cates and pol­i­cy­mak­ers demon­strate what sci­ence con­firms: Young peo­ple can grow, change and lead when giv­en the chance.

Con­nec­tion Over Condemnation

What works to get young peo­ple back on track are strate­gies root­ed in ado­les­cent devel­op­ment, such as pos­i­tive rein­force­ment, con­nec­tions to con­sis­tent, car­ing adults and oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn and lead. For young peo­ple to thrive, we need to respond more effec­tive­ly when they make mis­takes and cause harm. If we want safer com­mu­ni­ties and bet­ter futures, we must invest in approach­es that help young peo­ple reach their poten­tial — not poli­cies that con­demn them to pun­ish­ment with­out opportunity.

When young people’s poten­tial, tal­ents and skills are ful­ly real­ized, our fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties are stronger and safer.