Juvenile job placements as alternatives to incarceration.

Juvenile practitioners have known for a long time that one of the most effective means of deflecting a juvenile from a career of crime is to find him or her gainful employment. The feelings of achievement, accomplishment and self-worth that a juvenile gains by successfully obtaining and holding a job are a powerful counter to the experience of school failure, dysfunctional home settings, low self-esteem and poor self-image that characterize so many of today's juvenile offenders. A very promising effort of this kind has been the Juvenile Employment Opportunities (JEO) program in Jefferson Parish, La.

The JEO program began in 1992. At that time, staff of the community service's component of the Jefferson Parish Department of Juvenile Services were faced with unexpected difficulties in finding summer employment for their clients. At the last minute, the juvenile service staff were notified that long-promised Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) summer jobs for the department's clients would not materialize because of cutbacks in the local program.

Knowing the many benefits that were derived from the traditional summer employment program, administrators at the Department of Juvenile Services reviewed their budget hoping to find enough funds to put together an in-house summer employment program. Unfortunately, there was only enough money to hire two or three workers at minimum wage for the summer.

Taking a Different Tack

Realizing that putting only two or three teenagers to work for the summer would do little to address the goal of finding gainful employment for the department's eligible clients and wanting to get as much benefit from their spending as possible, the administrators decided to approach the issue from a different direction. Instead of simply putting two or three clients on the payroll to perform make-work jobs, the administrators decided to take the limited available funds and hire someone to be a "juvenile job developer" and find employment opportunities for juvenile offenders.

Instead of looking for job candidates with criminal justice, counseling, social sciences or psychology backgrounds, the department sought someone with experience in the business world. They realized that the right candidate for the job would also have to bring with him or her an understanding and appreciation of the type of clients for whom he or she would be trying to find jobs. The administrators found their job developer in a businessman who had worked for some, time as a volunteer in the department's Court Approved Special Advocate (CASA) program.

Shortly after he was hired, the job developer and members of the community services unit of the Department of Juvenile Services quickly put together the JEO program. The program was structured around the following premises:

* Members of the business community are usually concerned citizens who are interested in helping address community problems.

* Members of the business community are busy and, in spite of a desire to help, have little time for burdensome, time-consuming projects.

* No special favors of the program's participants, other than not eliminating them from consideration for a job because of their past legal problems, are ever asked of employer participants of the JEO program.

Although the department was hopeful that the project would be successful enough to justify its cost, the politically conservative nature of Jefferson Parish made administrators uncertain as to how this program, which asked businesspeople to hire adjudicated juvenile offenders, would be received by the local business community. Early goals were set low. The department hoped that the juvenile job developer would find employment in the private sector for at least six clients during the first summer. This would provide jobs for twice as many clients for the same amount of money as if the department had used its available funds to give summer jobs to two or three clients.

Making Contacts In the Community

During the first six weeks of operation, the juvenile job developer visited more than 71 businesses in the community. From those contacts, 39 positions were made available to JEO clients for application. Twenty-eight clients were hired. These numbers exceeded even the most optimistic projections. Because these first totals are the highest ever achieved in the program, them was, admittedly, some degree of beginner's luck involved With the early success of the program. During the first weeks of the effort, many of the placements were obtained through personal staff contacts or offered by businesses known for their participation in community projects.

However, within a few weeks, the program settled into a fairly steady pattern, which continues today, of averaging five or six job placements a month. From the start of the program, there have always been more jobs available than clients to fill them. This usually is because of job location and transportation problems; many of the available jobs are located in the more affluent sections of the community not served by public transit.

Today, after two years of operation, a reliable network of employers has been established in the community. In most cases, a job is found within days of the juvenile job developer's receipt of a referral. From the beginning of the program to mid-1994, 160 juvenile offenders have obtained jobs with community businesses as a result of the JEO program.

Although the program quickly proved itself to be a cost-effective alternative program for some of the community's juvenile offenders, the limited funds used to get the program off the ground were not sufficient to keep it going. However, the initial success of the project helped the department to receive a Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) grant through the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE). Currently, the program continues to operate with second-year JJDP funding through the LCLE.

As successful as the project has been, it is not free of problems. Many young people who could benefit from the program are unable to take advantage of it because of the many labor restrictions that limit participation to juveniles 16 years or older. On occasion, jobs can be found for younger individuals, but this is usually the result of unusual circumstances, such as employment with a relative or friend, that makes the placement possible.

Keeping Juveniles Employed

By far the most serious problem affecting the program is poor job retention. Unfortunately, a number of clients do not keep the jobs they obtain for an acceptable length of time (three months is the program's target period). From the start of the project, approximately one-half of all clients placed have kept their jobs for the three-month target period. Of those who fail to keep their jobs, approximately 58 percent resign and 42 percent are terminated. The terminations usually result from attendance and punctuality problems; the resignations usually are associated with the juvenile not being able to cope with and adjust to the work environment. Efforts to find ways to improve the retention rate of participants, including preemployment training sessions and a more selective participation process, have made relatively little difference. On the positive side, no terminations have occurred as a result of an illegal act.

The typical client comes from a home or neighborhood where there is relatively little support for the skills and responsibilities needed to hold a regular job. Not having a support system at home and typically suffering from low self-esteem and a poor self-image, clients often lack the ability to handle the criticism and stress that sometimes arises in the low-skill jobs in fast food and other service industries that make up the majority of the program's job placements. Therefore, when an issue arises at the workplace and the client is chastised by his or her supervisor for unsatisfactory work, the client frequently responds by quitting.

The only intervention that seems to have a positive effect on the retention rate is increased supervision by the client's case manager during the first weeks of employment. Ideally, additional staff resources in the JEO program would perform follow-up job counseling services needed by the many clients who are entering the world of honest work for the first time in their lives. In reality, limited funding precludes such specialized staffing. Therefore, it is important for these juveniles' case managers (social worker or probation or parole officer) to give them special attention and support during their first 30 to 60 days of employment.

Despite the nationwide focus on spending criminal justice resources on punitive, rather than preventive, measures, those who support alternatives to incarceration should not give up hope. Much can be accomplished. Simple, no-frills projects, such as the JEO program, are viable and effective interventions helping juveniles avoid long careers in the criminal justice system.

Craig A. Bauer, Ph.D., is the educational/research manager for the Jefferson Parish (La.) Department of Juvenile Services. He also is an adjunct instructor of political science and history at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans.