Teens in Transition: Evaluating a Youth Violence Intervention Program

In the summer of 2015, the Teens in Transition program was implemented. It was a summer jobs and life-skills program designed for 40 gang-affiliated youths identified as being high risk for violence through the local focused deterrence implementation. This research paper will provide a brief overview of the programs implementation and a short-term impact analysis. To assess implementation, 120 hours of observations were conducted and fieldnotes were collected. Using official police contact data, the analysis will assess whether youth who completed the program were less likely to engage in crime and delinquency while in the program compared to similar youth. The results of the initial participant eligibility analysis indicate that more than half of those who participated in TNT were not on the original eligibility list for program selection. The results indicate that police involvement in the 65 months before the program, the participants had less police contacts and arrests than the non-participants and those dismissed from the program. The analysis of police involvement during the program similarly indicates that TNT participants had less police contacts and arrests than the non-participants and the dismissed youth. Therefore, Teens in Transition seemingly decreased criminal involvement, as measured by police contact, in the participants for the duration of the program. This finding must be considered in the context of lower numbers of police contact for program participants in the time period before TNT began.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Criminal Justice and Criminology (UMKC)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Missouri--Kansas City

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Allen, Olivia Rose

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fox, Andrew M.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10355/58876

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/58876