Running head: INCARCERATED YOUTH

Incarcerated youth: Overcoming barriers

Elizabeth Jones
Ball State University

INCARCERATED YOUTH

Incarcerated Youth
Each year, over two million minors (individuals under the age of 18) are placed into juvenile
detention facilities for criminal behavior (Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006). The criminal
behaviors can range from property-related (theft, damage, etc.) to person-related crimes (i.e. physical
assault), and can result in the youths' incarceration for a median range of 17-70 weeks (Goldkind,
2011). Of these large volumes of incarcerated youth, approximately 100,000 who are under the age
of 21 are released each year, but are met with insufficient services to help them adequately transition
back into the community. This lack of resources has resulted in a high rate of return to detention,
which can be as a high as 60% (Bullis, & Yovanoff, 2002; Bullis, Yovanoff, & Havel, 2004; Foley,
2001; Goldkind, 2011).
Juvenile crime has major impacts on the offenders as well as their families, neighborhoods,
and the community at large (Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006). These impacts are relational
in part, but with such high monetary costs to maintain correctional facilities and provide
accompanying resources to the juvenile offenders, juvenile crime has a sizeable impact on the
community's economy. With so many impacts, it becomes imperative to identify how programs can
be altered to better rehabilitate youth and set them up to be successful adults.
Issues and Barriers
In order to best identify methods to employ to help incarcerated youth to be more successful, it
is important to gain insight into their unique needs and the barriers that they face.
Prior to engaging in any criminal activity, youth who are incarcerated tend to have a history of
maltreatment (physical/sexual/emotional abuse or neglect), unstable family environments which may
have included foster placement, and many have parents who are in the adult judicial system
(Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006; Goldkind, 2011; Murray, Farrington, & Sekol, 2012). In
fact, having experienced abuse or having a parent who is incarcerated put youth at significantly

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higher risk for committing crimes that result in incarceration. Additionally, youth in detention tend to
have higher rates of mental health disorders (Goldkind, 2011).
In addition to these issues, incarcerated youth tend to have academic challenges. According to
Foley (2001), youth who are incarcerated tend to function within below-average to average levels of
intelligence, perform 1-several years below expected academic grade levels, and typically do not
exceed 9th grade academic achievement levels. These students demonstrate significant deficits in
reading, math, written, and oral language. Furthermore, research indicates that as many as 30-60% of
juvenile offences have some kind of disability, typically emotional or learning which can further
impact their performance in schools (Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006; Goldkind, 2011).
While juvenile correctional facilities do offer education to the incarcerated youth, many seem to lack
special education services, and for the programs that do exist, it is difficult to determine the quality
(Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006).
Individuals who have been detained at some point in adolescence are at risk to struggle wit ha
variety of tasks into adulthood. They are more likely to have problems in their personal relationships,
have trouble succeeding in competitive community work placements, and are 2-3 times more likely to
become chronic offenders as adults (Alltucker, Bullis, Close, & Yovanoff, 2006; Bullis, Yovanoff, &
Havel, 2004). In fact, upon release from correctional facilities as juveniles, over half return within
one year (Bullis, & Yovanoff, 2002; Bullis, Yovanoff, & Havel, 2004; Foley, 2001; Goldkind, 2011).
The implication of this high rate is that the services that are currently offered to transitioning juveniles
are not adequately meeting their needs.
When students are released from detention, many are required to attend to school in order to
comply with a court order or probation (Goldkind, 2011). However, they face certain barriers in
accomplishing this. According to Goldkind, youth released mid semester may have trouble getting
into school right away for a variety of reasons which include the following: schools may ask youth

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who were released mid-semester to wait until the following semester; many schools are not equipped
to provide credit for the education youth received while they were detained and have difficulty
matching youth to appropriate classes based on their ability; and some schools are reticent to admit
students who may negatively impact standardized testing scores, attendance records, or increase levels
of crime and disorder within the school. If students are unable to successfully enroll in school, they
return to detention. The reality is that more than half of youth who are released from correctional
facilities and return to the community do not engage in or complete high school, or even complete a
GED program (Bullis, Yovanoff, & Havel, 2004; Foley, 2001).
Those students who are able to enroll in public school face their own set of unique challenges.
Recall that on average, incarcerated youth have spent a year in a correctional facility which results in
lost time, los credits, and a lack of educational continuity (Goldkind, 2011). When compounded with
any previous level of underachievement, it is not surprising that 16% of youth who enroll in public
schools drop out within a year (Foley, 2001). For the 74% who stay, they continue to face family and
personal difficulties due to the transition, and may face a hostile school culture if they are returning to
the school they attended prior to incarceration where their peers may have been their victims and
adults in the school may have a negative attitude toward the youth (Goldkind, 2011). Goldkind
comments that, life chances and social outcomes are a function of educational experiences and
opportunities (p. 229); a student who has a poor educational experience has limited opportunities
and, therefore, limited life chances.
According to Hwang et al. (2014), individuals with a history of low academic achievement
tend to have low academic self-concept, negative attitudes toward peers and teachers, low
engagement or interest in school and learning, and emotional distress which can result in lower career
aspirations, limited career choices, and unsatisfying decision-making.

Further, poor school

performance, combined with the weak school attachment that comes from a negative school culture

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and negative attitudes towards school and learning puts students at higher risk of delinquency and
criminal behavior as adults (Goldkind, 2011). This implies that academic achievement is strongly
linked to career success. As the research clearly indicates that juveniles who have been incarcerated
underachieve academically, measures need to be taken in order to promote student achievement as a
part of a comprehensive approach to promote career success for these students.
Pathways to success
According to Goldkind (2012), Schooling is viewed as the most accessible and reliable
pathway toward a healthy and productive future for youths released from secure custody (p. 229).
Therefore, a smooth transition from detention to school is important to enable ex-offenders to
successfully adjust to the community environment and set them up for future success. The literature
in this field is rich in research and ideas for the various elements that are necessary to implement in
order to ease this transition and empower ex-offenders to thrive.
According to Bullis and Yovanoff (2002), the majority of youth who return to juvenile
corrections do so within 12 months, so implementing services in those first 12 months is critical.
Bullis and Yovonoff advocate for the promotion of engagement; that is, to engage youth with various
resources within the community: positive school engagement, engaging in some kind of job. A key to
engaging students in one or both of these ways is much more likely if they can be linked to mental
health services to aide in the transition. Furthermore, Bullis and Yovanoff found that youth who
successfully stayed out of the judicial system once they were released as adolescents reported that the
services they found to be most important and most helpful were those that provided them with
marketable skills that they could apply to a career, and enduring role models for how to behave as
adults. The skills they learned included social skills, work skills, and living skills.
In another study, Bullis, Yovanoff, and Havel (2004) applied many of the same concepts from
their earlier study and found that they still held true to a different population. In this study, they

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determined that the first six to twelve months were still critical in youth's successful adjustment to the
community, and that services could put more of a focus on helping students connect to employment
placements and support. For students who were younger or who required special education services,
they required more services that taught them vocational skills as they were not able to engage in the
community through work placements.
Hamilton, Seibert, Gardner, & Talbert-Johnson (2000) evaluated an intervention that can help
promote academic achievement for ex-offenders who have learning disabilities, but which can also be
applied to all ex-offenders as they tend to have gaps in their education in general. In schools, students
tend to be expected to take their own notes on material that is presented. Research has linked good
and accurate note-taking on class material to success in quizzes and tests. However, students with
learning disabilities or who have gaps in their education are likely to have poorer note-taking skills
which negatively impacts class performance. In their study, Hamilton, Seibert, Gardner, & TalbertJohnson (2000) demonstrated that by using guided notes as a method of instruction- where teachers
have their notes projected on the board with blanks which students must copy and fill in students
learn how to be good note takers. In this method, teachers can check the notes to ensure they are
accurate. In general, students performed better on quizzes, saw improved grades, and were more on
task more often. Additionally, students reported that they preferred this method of note-taking. This
intervention could prove to be successful in mainstream classes as a way of meeting the needs of
lower-performing students without detracting from the needs of average or above average performing
students.
Taking a different approach, Hwang et al. (2014) designed a qualitative study to collect
information from students who had at one point been underachieving academically and overcame
obstacles and were academically successful. Four themes became apparent in recovering from
underachievement. The first was the attitude of the student. Participants reported having a sense of

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determination to keep studying and working even if it is difficulties. The implication of this is that
people exerted significant effort on learning because they believed learning was critical for future.
Therefore, students need to find the importance or meaning from learning. The second theme was
learning about and how to implement study skills. The third theme that students reported as being
important to overcome underachievement was emotional and informational support from family,
friends, and teachers. Finally, the last theme that Hwang, et al. Identified was that students needed to
accept that the obstacles were going to be unavoidable and difficult to overcome, but that they needed
to exert effort in order to be successful. Essentially, students needed to realize the relationships
between learning and their future, build strong motivation for excellence, develop a specific action
plan for learning, and receive social and emotional support (Hwang, et al., 2014, p. 90-91)
This study suggests that career development is strongly related to academic performance. I
counselors help students to develop their career identity, they may be more likely to change their
attitudes toward school which can lead to an improvement in academic performance and their
continued and successful pursuit of satisfying and meaningful careers, regardless of their starting
point.
For students with behavioral problems, before they can begin to perform academically, they
need to learn to regulate their behaviors. Shillingford and Edwards (2008) propose an evidence-based
intervention for school counselors to implement that is based on William Glasser's Choice Theory. In
this approach, counselors take students through three steps. In the first step, the counselor educates
the student about the foundations of Choice Theory (that there are five basic needs every person has,
survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun, but the most important need is love and
belonging). The counselor proceeds to describe that people can engage in Deadly Habits or
Healthy Habits. The deadly habits include nagging, punishing, and rewarding to control others
which can negatively impact the creation of healthy and productive relationships. The counselors

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continues to explain that there are positive habits, the healthy habits, that students can use instead that
are helpful in building those positive relationships in order to fulfill a person's need for love and
belonging.
The second step involves teaching students that people are in control of their own choices,
thoughts, and behaviors, and that sometimes people make choices that result in them engaging in
problematic behaviors which have consequences, and people can also make good choices that have
positive outcomes.
The final step is helping the student to make good choices by learning and implementing the
healthy habits to replace the deadly habits through role plays, modeling, and homework assignments.
In their study, Shillingford and Edwards (2008) found that implementing this approach resulted in
fewer classroom disruptions and peer conflicts, and improved academic, social, and peer functioning.
Role of school counselors and educators
Counselors play an important role in developing and implementing programs in schools that
can promote student success academically and socially, but also in their careers, and have played an
integral role in developing some of the evidence-based programs that are tailored to youth who were
at some point in juvenile detention (Weissman, 1985). Keeping in mind all of the various approaches
that can be taken to help these youth overcome the unique barriers that they face, school counselors
and educators can set students up for success by taking responsibility for various tasks.
Each person who works in a school can work to create a supportive and welcoming school
environment that is so important to the success of these students (Goldkind, 2011; Hwang et al.,
2014). Furthermore, school counselors can link students and their families to local mental health
resources as well as vocational resources, conduct workshops on behavior management and parenting
skills, and promote collaborative relationships between the school and parents (Goldkind, 2011).

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School counselors can also implement the choice theory intervention designed by Shillingford and
Edwards (2008) in order to empower students to take ownership of their choices and behaviors and
promote academic achievement, or take the findings of Hwang et al. (2014) and help students identify
careers that interest them to provide motivation for them to succeed academically, promoting career
readiness and academic achievement simultaneously. Using this approach, the school counselor's job
is to help set clear career goals for students' future, and find meaning in learning in terms of career to
help students find value in education. After all, students who have career goals for their adult life are
inclined to give serious consideration to their education preparation (Hwang et al., 2014, p. 91).
Finally, school counselors can act as a liaison between the juvenile and family courts and the
education department to facilitate smoother, faster transitions.

This is done best when school

counselors are in communication with the courts as soon as juveniles are incarcerated (Goldkind,
2011). This can be done without violation of confidentiality when it is in compliance with a court
order or subpoena if needed to provide services to the student.
Juveniles who have been incarcerated have often faced a disrupted life filled with maltreatment
and unhealthy services. With such high rates of return to detention, the task of helping these
individuals successfully complete school and pursue meaningful careers is daunting, there are several
evidence-based interventions that, when implemented, can make positive impacts.

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References
Alltucker, K. W., Bullis, M., Close, D., & Yovanoff, P. (2006). Different Pathways to Juvenile
Delinquency: Characteristics of Early and Late Starters in a Sample of Previously Incarcerated Youth.
Journal Of Child And Family Studies, 15(4), 479-492. doi:10.1007/s10826-006-9032-2
Bullis, M., & Yovanoff, P. (2002). Those who do not return: Correlates of the work and school
engagement of formerly incarcerated youth who remain in the community. Journal Of Emotional And
Behavioral Disorders, 10(2), 66-78. doi:10.1177/10634266020100020101
Bullis, M., Yovanoff, P., & Havel, E. (2004). The importance of getting started right: Further examination
of the facility-to-community transition of formerly incarcerated youth. The Journal Of Special
Education, 38(2), 80-94. doi:10.1177/00224669040380020201
Foley, R. M. (2001). Academic characteristics of incarcerated youth and correctional education programs:
A literature review. Journal Of Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, 9(4), 248-259.
doi:10.1177/106342660100900405
Goldkind, L. (2011). A leadership opportunity for school social workers: Bridging the gaps in school
reentry for juvenile justice system youths. Children & Schools, 33(4), 229-239.
doi:10.1093/cs/33.4.229
Hamilton, S. L., Seibert, M. A., Gardner, R., & Talbert-Johnson, C. (2000). Using guided notes to
improve the academic achievement of incarcerated adolescents with learning and behavior problems.
Remedial And Special Education, 21(3), 133-140. doi:10.1177/074193250002100302
Hwang, M., Lee, D., Lim, H., Seon, H., Hutchison, B., & Pope, M. (2014). Academic underachievement
and recovery: Student perspectives on effective career interventions. The Career Development
Quarterly, 62(1), 81-94. doi:10.1002/j.2161-0045.2014.00072.x

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Murray, J., Farrington, D. P., & Sekol, I. (2012). Children's antisocial behavior, mental health, drug use,
and educational performance after parental incarceration: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 175-210. doi:10.1037/a0026407
Shillingford, M., & Edwards, O. W. (2008). Professional school counselors using choice theory to meet
the needs of children of prisoners. Professional School Counseling,12 (1), 62-65.
Weissman, S. (1985). Preparing incarcerated youth for employment. Journal Of Counseling &
Development, 63(8), 524-525. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1985.tb02752.x