Aftercare When There is No Aftercare: Policy Solution and Evaluation Plan Proposal

Juvenile justice systems that release offenders without court-ordered supervision are not addressing the needs of parents as guardians over young law breakers. Help for parents needs to come from the professional community, the neighborhood, the school system, and the juvenile justice system. Hence, this paper proposes that a group of volunteers from these entities be assembled into a pilot program with the goal of reducing juvenile recidivism, relapse, and reincarceration. This program will aim to guide juvenile offenders into successful reintegration into the community and prevent reincarceration/relapse of youths released from juvenile corrections facilities with no court-ordered supervision. A developmental evaluation will be conducted from the behavioral objectives approach to gauge the impact and effectiveness of a 12- month pilot program.