In Georgia, juvenile justice officials are thinking outside of the box as they reinvent the way education is delivered to young offenders. By adopting state-wide educational standards, step-by-step training for employees, a computerized education system and a new juvenile incentive program, officials are seeing a reduction in juvenile misbehavior and unemployment.

“This is a very simple model from years ago, but we've tweaked it,” says Thomas O'Rourke, Associate Superintendent for Education Services for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).  “With these kids, we're thinking exit at entry when they come in.”

The DJJ has also broadened the scope of their programming to include older juvenile offenders who are considering employment.

“We discovered that our older juvenile offenders tend to have their GED,” explains Robert Manville, Director at DJJ's East Campus Development Center which houses offenders from the ages of 17 to 24. “The problem we found was that despite their equivalent degrees or high school diplomas, they were not prepared to find employment upon release. They needed additional assistance, so we created career programs and developed a career center.”

According to O'Rourke, this is all about giving juveniles one thing – a chance.

“We just need to give these kids a chance,” says O'Rourke. “They need every chance they can get. Some of them still won't take advantage of the opportunity, unfortunately. But I don't ever want one juvenile to be able to say that they didn't have the opportunity to succeed.”

A New Transitional Model

In order to foster success, a transitional model was developed at the DJJ to encourage accountability. The transitional model spells out each step of assessment, placement and education that juveniles are to receive while incarcerated and all employees were trained to follow the mode. Although the DJJ had a transitional model previously in place, officials realized that employees were confused about their responsibilities.

“Our new transitional model has worked really well for us,” says O'Rourke. “Now, our employees know who is responsible for each aspect of juvenile care. The transitional model has been especially helpful because it also provides a timeline for every step. If a juvenile hasn't been assessed within a certain time frame of their sentencing, we know there is a problem.”

With the help of a training CD, every employee at the DJJ now knows what step of the program juveniles need to complete at any given time. With this renewed focus on accomplishment and accountability, DJJ employees are helping juveniles now more than ever.

CAPS: Moving Juveniles Through High School

Educational programming starts the moment a juvenile is sentenced to the DJJ. Young offenders are assessed for their level of education and an individual transitional plan is developed. During the one-on-one assessment, the DJJ found that many juveniles were struggling with education during incarceration and after their release.

“We start juvenile educational programming as soon as they enter our doors,” says O'Rourke. “Because we found that many of our youngsters would fall behind when they returned to their public schools. We decided to change our educational programming in a way that allows them to keep up with the work expected of them.”

The DJJ created a Curriculum Activity Packet system, called CAP. CAPs were created for every level of high school education, in every subject. The CAP system is computer-based, and the progress of each juvenile is tracked on the computer as well. For each subject, juveniles are required to complete one CAP, which is made up of 25 packets.

“The CAPs system has been really great for us,” says O'Rourke. “A juvenile comes in, and let's say they stopped going to history class for six months. That offender starts at CAP One in history. No matter what the other students in the classroom are doing, that youngster has the ability to pick up his education where he left off.”

The CAP system is linked to an internal Intranet system which any DJJ teacher can access. Each student has a personalized portfolio of his or her work since incarceration. Teachers now have the ability to start juveniles on the same page where they left off, without missing a beat.

“The nicest thing about our Intranet system is that every teacher knows what level these juveniles should be working on,” says O'Rourke. “If a kid is transferred to a new facility in the middle of the semester, it doesn't matter because the teacher at either facility will know which CAP he should complete for which subject.”

Now, classrooms in the DJJ are full of juveniles who are all working at their own pace and their own educational level. Teachers provide support while the youngsters make their way through the CAP system. For juveniles who decide to take another route, the CAP system is also available for vocational classes.

“We do have juveniles that struggle to succeed in academia,” says O'Rourke. “We would be remiss if we didn't address that. So we started to offer vocational training and certification in things like auto mechanics, computer engineering and landscaping. This is great because kids are getting excited – whether they take the academic track or the vocational, they are starting to see the value of learning something.”

GAP: The Learning Momentum Moving Forward

Although providing high school educations to juvenile offenders was an important focus of the DJJ, officials soon realized that it wasn't enough. Releasing juveniles with high school diplomas did not make it any easier for the young offenders to find employment or continue with their educations.

“When a youth is released, the first obvious problem is that they are returning to the same environment that landed them in a detention center in the first place,” says Manville. “That's strike one. They will also be released to an area with the same peers as before, and that's strike two. If they can't find employment, that's strike three. We cannot control their environment or peers – but we do have some control over things like providing a job coach, certification, and employment opportunities.”

So at the East Development Campus, officials created the Graduate Advisement Program, or GAP to keep juveniles moving forward with incentive plans and extra benefits. Any juvenile that has a high school education or equivalent can sign a contract to join GAP. Juveniles in GAP have assigned teachers and advisors, and they are not allowed to have any behavioral problems while enrolled.

Juveniles who decide to join the GAP program receive motivational benefits. They live in a dorm-like setting that allows them slightly more freedom than a typical Georgia detention center. The GAP dorm is outfitted with a large-screen TV, which is an added motivator for young offenders. Every juvenile in GAP stands out from the rest of the population, thanks to special T-shirts and baseball hats that identify them as GAP participants.

“For the first few months, some juveniles might not take to GAP,” says Manville. “We do get tough juveniles at this particular campus. But they start to realize that they can do something good – and they can have some benefits while they do so. Right now, we have 72 out of 85 youths participating. Youths that are not interested at first suddenly want to become involved. They see other kids walking around in the hats and T-shirts, and staying up a little later, and they want to get involved.”

GAP at Work

Typically, youths in the GAP dormitory spend their days in a schedule routine of academic and vocational training. After spending two hours in a vocational class of their interest, juveniles go on to two hours of graduate program classes, such as Career Preparation or Employee 100. These classes focus on succeeding in life and teach the juveniles social skills. For young offenders that are struggling, specialized classes are available to help them improve in any subject.

Once classroom instruction is over, juveniles spend four hours at their job assignments. Those assignments are typically related to their career paths, and are located on and around the campus. Some students might work on landscaping, while others will have time to practice hands-on automotive repair skills. Then, juveniles have one hour of leisure recreation and free-time.

“We've been getting a really positive response to GAP,” says Manville. “The whole culture of this campus has changed over the last six months. We're rewarding these youths for getting their GED. We're trying to get these juveniles involved in their own lives. Our philosophy is that we have to reward positive behavior.”

Each juvenile also has a Teacher Advisor, who supervises their progress. Each Teacher Advisor is responsible for 12 students, who make up their caseload. By assigning each student to a specific advisor, officials hope to ensure that no juvenile gets left behind because someone is personally invested in their success. 

“We have to do something about recidivism throughout the nation,” says Manville. “If we're going to fight recidivism, we have to look at what brings youths back into the facility. One of the things we're finding in Georgia is that after release, our juveniles are finding jobs. And they are also trying to find additional education. We're giving them different skills, goals and life plans when they are released. As practitioners, we cannot control the community, the peers or the parents. But we can release them prepared.”

Manville says that once the DJJ started to offer GAP, incidents of juvenile misbehavior, such as violence or acting out, dropped from 310 per month to around 87 per month.

“If that drop in numbers doesn't indicate that this program has been successful so far, I don't know what does,” says Manville.

Moving Juveniles Into the Workforce

The DJJ does not simply focus on education, either. Realizing that many offenders struggle to secure employment post-release, career counselors are available to help them find jobs throughout Georgia. Most juveniles are placed with companies where their vocational training can be used, such as Goodyear Tires or United Postal Service.

“There are a number of corporations that want to help us employ these juveniles,” says Manville. “It's not that hard to find people that will hire our youths. It's been quite rewarding to see so many companies that want to help us and these kids. Throughout metropolitan Georgia, we are finding places for them.”

As the DJJ gears up to further expand educational programming, GAP, and job placement services, O'Rourke remains positive that juveniles will continue to take advantage of the opportunity to succeed.

“We are creating something where juveniles cannot fall through the cracks. We have a system in place that is catching these kids – they are becoming passionate about education and employment. As we get better and better at this programming, we're going to have fewer and fewer juveniles slip through and there will be less recidivism.”

According to Manville, the programs being offered by the DJJ are changing the way juveniles react, behave and live.

“If you were born and raised on the streets of Savannah, that culture breeds you to act tough,” says Manville. “When these juveniles come here, we have to convince them that they don't have to be tough. We have to show them that they can make something out of themselves. They survived by being tough before they came here. But we are teaching them a different way of living.”