Michigan has more reasons now than ever before to consider juvenile justice reform. Something to add to the list: areport released this week by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The report zeroes in on what deters kids from committing crimes in the first place. Most of what we know about recidivism is based on adults. Very few studies have been done with juveniles – until now.
Pathways to Desistance is a national study that followed over 1,300 serious juvenile offenders for seven years after being convicted. The study measures whether the punishment handed out to these kids – probation, jail time, etc. – is effective in changing their behavior. One way it does this is by tracking whether kids who committed felony-level crimes go on to re-offend in the future.
[For more of this story, written by Brittany Bartkowiak, go to http://stateofopportunity.mich...enile-justice-reform]
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