Agenda - 12-16-1997 - 10e - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report on the Teen Court Pre p 22 FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF EFFECTIVENESS: THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY TEEN COURT PROGRAM Measurement of the success or effectiveness of programs such as the Teen Court program is problematic in part because there are a number of ways to define "success" and "effectiveness," all of which may be regarded as valid depending on the perspective that is adopted. This section explores some of the issues that may be considered in an evaluation of effectiveness, beyond the data on number of participants, sentences ordered, and sentences completed that were outlined previously. In an attempt to provide further evaluative information about the possible benefits of participation in the Teen Court process, we conducted a more detailed analysis on juveniles who were referred to the Cumberland County Teen Court program during its first eight months of operation, and interviewed some people involved with Teen Court to get their perspectives. Recidivism Study This section describes data collection and analysis relevant to an evaluation of the extent to which juvenile offenders who are referred to Teen Court are involved in future unlawful behavior. Data Collection. We decided to focus on two referral sources for these analyses: juvenile intake (Intake) and the Fayetteville Police Department (Police). These two sources were chosen because of the availability of data from which to form a comparison (i.e., non- Teen Court) group, and because, as itemized earlier, these two referral sources accounted for 56% of all referrals to Teen Court since its inception. We therefore collected data on all juveniles referred to Teen Court from Intake or Police during the 8-month period of October 1993 through May 1994. The cases for these juveniles formed the Teen Court sample. Demographic information was collected, such as age, sex, race, and school attended. In addition, we coded the referred offense and tracked each juvenile's participation in Teen Court to identify whether a hearing was held, and whether the juvenile completed the sentence that was imposed. Finally, pursuant to a.court order, we were permitted access to Cumberland County's juvenile services intake files to determine whether these juveniles had any subsequent juvenile court involvement. For those juveniles who turned 16'(i.e., became adults in the criminal justice system) since the Teen Court referral, we also searched the North Carolina Court Information System for adult criminal records. Because it was not feasible to use an experimental approach involving cases actually referred to Teen Court but excluded for purposes of research, we developed a Pre-Program group of cases for comparison purposes. These cases involved juveniles who were diverted by Police and by Intake during the period of October 1992 through May 1993. Thus, they represent cases handled by Police and by Intake shortly before the implementation of the Teen Court program, and during the same time of year as the Teen Court sample. From lists of cases diverted during this time frame, we asked Police and Intake to review and screen cases to