When a young person has completed their term of incarceration, they are faced with the new challenge of returning home. They are often returning to a situation with the same challenges that contributed to the behavior that led to their incarceration. These risk factors may include family dysfunction, unsafe neighborhoods, antisocial peer influences, drug and alcohol abuse, poor educational experiences, lack of mental health treatment or local resources, unresolved trauma, and underdeveloped skills in overcoming these obstacles to successfully move on from previous bad decisions. The transition back into the community may include not being welcome back to school, being unable to get a job because of having a record, and fractured relationships with family and friends. Depending on how long the youth was incarcerated, they may also see that their friends have moved on with their lives (graduated from school, had children, gotten married, moved away) while their own life feels as if it has been put on hold. They are in a position of playing catch-up.

Aftercare is to juveniles what parole would be to adults, but the focus is supposed to be more on support and rehabilitation than on trying to catch them messing up. With this intent, some well-intended services (such as counseling) are often court-ordered. Studies show, however, that youth of color have an especially difficult time accepting court-ordered assistance from the same system that punished them, especially because they may view it as representing white oppression and power (Crosby, 2016). “For people of color, institutions such as the justice system and social services have long held an image consistent with being predominantly white and oppressive. The mistrust of these systems may lead to overall fears about participating in mental health treatment, and especially in agencies with predominantly white staff” (Crosby, 2016:11). Refusing to participate in court-ordered treatment may be a way for young people of color exiting the juvenile justice system to try to regain some of their agency against a racist, oppressive system. The problem is that this non-compliance can get them right back into trouble with the system they are trying to fight.

Facing these and similar interior struggles on top of all the exterior obstacles, compounded by the negative stereotypes of people of color who have been incarcerated, makes avoiding delinquent and criminal behavior often seem pointless. Recidivism (reoffending and rearrest) is not only likely in these situations but even expected (VanderPyl and Yoho, 2019).

Juvenile recidivism is a clear indication that current methods of punishing children are not successful in reforming them. Almost every young person who is incarcerated is eventually released back into the community, yet more than half of them end up back in the system within a year (OJJDP, 2020). “Incarcerating youth undermines public safety, damages young people’s physical and mental health, impedes their educational and career success, and often exposes them to abuse” (Mendel, 2023). Rather than continuing to invest in this failing system, it is time to learn more about alternative responses to harm.

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Licenses and Attributions for After Juvenile Justice System Involvement

Open Content, Original

“After Juvenile Justice System Involvement” by Taryn VanderPyl, revised by Jessica René Peterson, is licensed under CC BY 4.0.