Research
The 4C Coalition Mentor Program is a research-based mentoring program based on
the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration’s (JRA) mentoring program has been
implemented for locally-sanctioned youth, in partnership with Seattle King County
faith communities. A mentor makes a one year commitment to have weekly meetings
with the youth and encourage pro-social activities and leadership skills. Not
only does this program benefit the youth, but it can also reduce recidivism and
results in cost benefits to King County .
Preliminary Findings for the Washington State Institute
of Public Policy
In June 1995, the city of Seattle obtained funding from the federal Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for an initiative titled Safe Futures:
Partnerships to Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency. The initiative is designed
to develop "a comprehensive community-wide partnership to prevent and reduce
youth violence and delinquency." In 1996, the Seattle office of the Juvenile
Rehabilitation Administration (JRA), within the Washington State Department of
Social and Health Services, implemented a mentoring program as part of the Safe
Futures initiative. JRA contracted with Sharon Webb of Healthy Start Mentoring
Program, to implement mentoring in JRA. The Washington State Institute for Public
Policy (Institute) was asked to evaluate the mentoring program as part of its
legislatively directed role to consult with JRA on ways to implement research-proven
programs.
The JRA program recruits and trains adults from diverse cultural backgrounds
to serve as mentors for Seattle youth returning from a JRA facility. A mentor
is a trusted adult who volunteers to assist a youth in setting and fulfilling
educational and vocational goals, and to help the youth live a drug- and crime-free
life.
Mentors are required to:
Make a one year commitment to the youth;
Complete an application screening process, including a questionnaire and
personal interview to determine interests and personality;
Consent to a Washington State Patrol background check;
Complete a one-day eight hour mentor training program;
Meet with the youth monthly during the last five to six months of the youth’s
confinement, and write or call weekly;
Attend monthly meetings to enhance mentoring skills; and
Meet with the youth weekly once the youth returns to the community.
ESSB 6387(203)(20), Chapter 371, Laws of 2002.
Recruiting Mentors:
Originally, mentors volunteered as a result of the JRA program manager speaking in churches and getting direct referrals from pastors. More recently, the program has recruited mentors by distributing posters, engaging local service groups, and using the internet.
Originally, mentors volunteered as a result of the JRA program manager speaking in churches and getting direct referrals from pastors. More recently, the program has recruited mentors by distributing posters, engaging local service groups, and using the internet.
Finding Youth for the JRA Mentoring Program:
Shortly after they are committed to JRA, youth from Seattle are asked if they would like to participate in the mentoring program. These youth must have between five and six months remaining in their JRA stay of confinement and they cannot be sex offenders. Nearly all youth who are asked choose to participate. Each youth completes an application and has a personal interview with the JRA mentor program manager to determine interests and personality. When mentors become available, the JRA mentor program manager matches the mentor to a youth on gender; most mentors are female. The program manager then selects a youth whose ethnicity, personality, and interests closely match the mentor’s.
JRA’s Initial Security Assessment is a validated predictor of risk for re-offense. See, R. Barnoski. 1998. Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration Assessments: Validity Review and Recommendations (Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy)
At this early point in the evaluation, the JRA Region 4 Mentoring program appears to reduce recidivism. The chart shows that, after a 12-month follow-up period, recidivism rates of youth assigned to the mentor program are lower than the rates of the matched group of youth who did not receive mentoring. For example, 23 percent of youth who received mentoring were re-convicted for a new felony offense after 12 months, compared with 35 percent of youth in the matched group. While this reduction appears to be large, it is not statistically significant, probably because the sample size is too small at this stage of the evaluation to detect the observed effect. However, the 34 percent drop in felony recidivism provides an encouraging early look at the results of JRA’s Region 4 Mentoring program. The Institute will update these results prior to the 2003 legislative session, with a larger sample.
JRA’s Initial Security Assessment is a validated predictor of risk for re-offense. See, R. Barnoski. 1998. Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration Assessments: Validity Review and Recommendations (Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy)
.
Shortly after they are committed to JRA, youth from Seattle are asked if they would like to participate in the mentoring program. These youth must have between five and six months remaining in their JRA stay of confinement and they cannot be sex offenders. Nearly all youth who are asked choose to participate. Each youth completes an application and has a personal interview with the JRA mentor program manager to determine interests and personality. When mentors become available, the JRA mentor program manager matches the mentor to a youth on gender; most mentors are female. The program manager then selects a youth whose ethnicity, personality, and interests closely match the mentor’s.
JRA’s Initial Security Assessment is a validated predictor of risk for re-offense. See, R. Barnoski. 1998. Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration Assessments: Validity Review and Recommendations (Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy)
.
How Much Does Mentoring Cost?
The taxpayer cost of the mentoring program includes the JRA program manager’s salary and the cost of recruiting, training, and communicating with the mentors. On average, 25 youth per year participate and the average taxpayer cost per youth is approximately $3,000.
The Research Question:
The two basic research questions for the JRA mentoring program evaluation are these: Does the program reduce criminal recidivism and, if it does, do taxpayers save more money (stemming from the reduction in recidivism) than the program’s $3,000 price tag? That is, is the program a wise use of taxpayer money?
Evaluation Design:
JRA provided the Institute with a database that identified youth who completed an application to join the mentoring program. This study includes youth who were released to the community between February 1997 and September 2000. To assess whether the JRA mentor program reduces recidivism, a comparison group of JRA offenders released to King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties during the same dates were matched by gender, JRA risk score, and ethnicity to each mentor program youth.
This research design provides a reasonable test of whether the mentor program lowers recidivism rates compared with the matched set of youth who do not receive the program. In addition to the explicit matching process used to create the comparison group, we also applied multivariate statistical modeling to account for other factors that influence recidivism, in addition to participation in the mentoring program.
At this early point in the evaluation, the JRA Region 4 Mentoring program appears to reduce recidivism. The chart shows that, after a 12-month follow-up period, recidivism rates of youth assigned to the mentor program are lower than the rates of the matched group of youth who did not receive mentoring. For example, 23 percent of youth who received mentoring were re-convicted for a new felony offense after 12 months, compared with 35 percent of youth in the matched group. While this reduction appears to be large, it is not statistically significant, probably because the sample size is too small at this stage of the evaluation to detect the observed effect. However, the 34 percent drop in felony recidivism provides an encouraging early look at the results of JRA’s Region 4 Mentoring program. The Institute will update these results prior to the 2003 legislative session, with a larger sample.
JRA’s Initial Security Assessment is a validated predictor of risk for re-offense. See, R. Barnoski. 1998. Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration Assessments: Validity Review and Recommendations (Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy)