A Youth Development Approach
Court Services
Services and Activities for Participants

For years, the justice system has focused on the problems of teen offenders. There are many areas in which the young people who come to CASES are deficient: many come to us with a history of violent behavior and few have the education or skills to find meaningful employment. We have found that focusing directly on our participants' problems is unproductive. Most are aware of their shortcomings, have heard them recited by parents, school officials, and judges in the past, and tend to stop listening when lectured.

CASES has taken a different approach to helping young people based upon the principles of youth development. Rather than focusing on a young person's problems, a youth development approach focuses on a young person's strengths. It asks them to develop, rather than simply change. At CASES, this means that young people in the Court Employment Project set their own goals, plan their own programs, and are expected to succeed. Each participant is assigned a case coordinator who manages all aspects of the participant's involvement with CASES; case coordinators serve as guides and coaches to assist participants in reaching the short-term and long-term goals they have set for themselves.

Based on the successes of our youth development pilot projects, Court Employment Project staff conducted a comprehensive program review in order to incorporate the principles of youth development into all aspects of the program and increase positive outcomes for our participants. We are helping participants build a set of core competencies in three areas: Intellectual and Career Development, Health and Well-Being, and Judicial and Civic Accountability. Our services are organized within these three areas.

We are incorporating this philosophy into all of our youth programs. Although CASES will be among the first to apply a youth development approach to a youth offender population, research suggests that youth offenders may be a particularly appropriate audience for such efforts. This approach has been proven effective with "high risk" groups across the country. In a study of programs that have adopted a youth development approach, University of Washington researchers found such an approach capable of lowering aggressive behaviors, criminal activity, and teen pregnancy while increasing motivation, promoting academic achievement, problem solving and conflict resolution abilities. Among the analyzed programs was one which, like CASES, included a workplace component for high risk youth. This program was especially successful: 63% of participants graduated from high school (compared with 42% of the control group), and 42% of participants went on to some form of post-secondary education (versus only 16% of the control). (Catalano, et al., Positive Youth Development in the United States, 1998.)