Jamie J. Fader

Factors involved in decisions on commitment to delinquency programs for first-time juvenile offenders

In this paper we focus on program commitment decisions for first-time offenders, comparing the explanatory effect of factors traditionally included in this type of analysis with that of variables describing child and family functioning. Using data derived from a subsample of youths followed by ProDES (Program Development and Evaluation System), a system of outcome evaluation that tracks youths in Philadelphias juvenile justice system, we use chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID) analysis to compare the relative effects of these factors on the likelihood of commitment to in-home versus out-of-home settings. We find that child and family functioning are key factors in programmatic decisionmaking for first-time offenders, but are less important in decisionmaking for juveniles with prior offenses. Yet the treatment modalities of specific program commitments for first-time offenders frequently do not match the needs presented by the juvenile at the point of disposition.

Identifying chronic juvenile offenders

With the recent rise in juvenile offending, particularly violent crime, legislative and public attention has focused sharply on juvenile corrections. In the past few years, juvenile justice has witnessed stronger legislative dictates requiring public agencies to consider the public safety implications of their policy decisions, an increasing emphasis on outcomes-based evaluation, and a renewed interest in matching services to juveniles needs. Consequently risk classification, and specifically the identification of chronic juvenile offenders, have assumed a much higher policy profile. Here we review the historical development of risk classification in the context of a rational decision-making model. We discuss the major risk factors identified in the literature and describe in detail a study to identify and respond to chronic juvenile offenders in Orange County, California. Recognizing the advantages of the researcher/practitioner team approach adopted there, we attempt to replicate both the process and the results in Philadelphia. Using a unique juvenile justice database we test but reject the Orange County model; instead we develop a classification model of chronic offending that better fits this juvenile population. Using the Philadelphia model, we demonstrate the policy potential of risk classification by examining the impact of program type and of neighborhood on chronic offending.

The Mexican Immigration Debate: The View from History

This article uses census microdata to address key issues in the Mexican immigration debate. First, we find striking parallels in the experiences of older and newer immigrant groups with substantial progress among second- and subsequent-generation immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and Mexican Americans. Second, we contradict a view of immigrant history that contends that early-twentieth-century immigrants from southern and eastern Europe found well-paying jobs in manufacturing that facilitated their ascent into the middle class. Both first and second generations remained predominantly working class until after World War II. Third, the erosion of the institutions that advanced earlier immigrant generations is harming the prospects of Mexican Americans. Fourth, the mobility experience of earlier immigrants and of Mexicans and Mexican Americans differed by gender, with a gender gap opening among Mexican Americans as women pioneered the path to white-collar and professional work. Fifth, public-sector and publicly funded employment has proved crucial to upward mobility, especially among women. The reliance on public employment, as contrasted to entrepreneurship, has been one factor setting the Mexican and African American experience apart from the economic history of most southern and eastern European groups as well as from the experiences of some other immigrant groups today.

Women and the Paradox of Economic Inequality in the Twentieth-Century

This article uses the history of women in twentieth-century United States to explore the paradox of inequality in American history: the coexistence of durable inequality with immense individual and group mobility. Using census data, the article traces inequality along four dimensions: participation, distribution, rewards, and differentiation. Differentiation, the article argues, resolves the paradox of inequality by showing how mobility reinforces rather than challenges existing social structures. The analysis highlights differences in womens experiences by cohort and race and emphasizes the role of education, technological change, and, especially, governments impact on labor markets. The article concludes by evaluating and extending Charles Tillys theory of durable inequality in light of the trends in womens experience.

Criminal Family Networks: Criminal Capital and Cost Avoidance among Urban Drug Sellers

ABSTRACT This study explores: (1) how criminal family networks facilitate cost avoidance strategies by urban drug sellers and (2) transmission of criminal capital by these networks. Twenty interviews with drug sellers in Philadelphia found that family networks provided unique access to cost avoidance techniques that appeared to reduce offenders’ risk of arrest and violent victimization. Transfer of family criminal capital was not limited to mentoring and tutelage; these networks also allowed sellers to access the organizational structure at higher levels, inherit existing businesses, and make errors with few consequences. Extant theory could be advanced by considering social sources of criminal capital.

“These Are Kids’ Lives!”: Dilemmas and Adaptations of Juvenile Aftercare Workers

Despite a growing literature on best practices, the details of how aftercare workers help young people transition into the community after incarceration remain unexplored. This ethnographic study examines the daily practices of direct care workers within a large juvenile aftercare organization, focusing on the dilemmas that they face as street level bureaucrats. Although aftercare workers face tremendous organizational constraints, they do not always exhibit the bureaucratic responses that some scholars describe. Using care work and public administration theory as a lens, we explore how juvenile aftercare workers draw upon intrinsic motivation to provide meaningful services for returning youth.

Conditions of a successful status graduation ceremony: Formerly incarcerated urban youth and their tenuous grip on success

This article offers an ethnographic examination of a graduation ceremony from ‘Santana School’, a reform school targeting youthful drug offenders. After returning to the facility with five former residents, I contend that ceremony was a rare opportunity for these young men to reclaim the carceral experience on their own terms. Wearing their own clothing, using their own language, and playing their own music, they affirmed both their personal choices and the legitimacy of their cultural identities as Black men and its compatibility with success. Returning to the place where they had been held against their will offered them the chance to actively shape the staff’s collective memories of them and who they could become, as well as transforming their own narratives of the place and their time there. However, unlike most status passages, Santana’s graduation ceremony failed to confer the concrete privileges of a truly new status. I analyze the meaning of the experience for the young men in my study in light of Maruna’s call in this issue for the provision of redemption rituals which could strip the stigma from incarceration and restore the offender’s status in the community.

A Promising Approach to Narrowing the School-to-Prison Pipeline The WISE Arrest Diversion Program

Recent dramatic increases in the number of youth arrested for nonserious behavior in schools have led some jurisdictions to search for solutions to the “school-to-prison pipeline.” In this article, we evaluate the WISE arrest diversion program in Utica, New York. We use a mixed-methods evaluation design including: (1) a pre–post program comparison of school conduct by participants, (2) a pre–post program comparison of school-based arrests at Upstate High School, (3) a multivariate analysis that estimates the influence of the WISE program on school-based arrests while controlling for citywide juvenile arrests and the passage of time, and (4) interviews conducted with students, program staff, and stakeholders. Although the program appeared more successful in reducing Upstate High School’s reliance on arrest than in improving school conduct among participants, results suggest that the WISE arrest diversion program contains promising elements and lessons for narrowing the school-to-prison pipeline.

Scaling-Up Evidence-Based Programs Using a Public Funding Stream: a Randomized Trial of Functional Family Therapy for Court-Involved Youth

The Affordable Care Act expanded access to Medicaid programs and required them to provide essential health benefits, which can include prevention services. This study assesses the costs and benefits to using Medicaid funding to implement a well-known evidence-based program, Functional Family Therapy (FFT), with a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. The study also provides a rigorous test of FFT accommodated for a contemporary urban population that is gang at risk or gang-involved. One hundred twenty-nine predominantly minority and low income families were randomly assigned to receive an enhanced version of FFT or an alternative family therapy. Data from pre- and post-intervention interviews with youth and parents, court records of contacts with the justice system and residential placements, official records of community services, and the costs of placements and services are summarized. The intervention was implemented with fidelity to the FFT model using Medicaid funding. Treatment and control subjects received a wide range of community and residential services in addition to FFT. A higher percentage of treatment subjects than controls received services following random assignment, but the cost per youth served was lower for treatment than control youth, primarily because control youth were more often placed in residential facilities. Recidivism during the 18-month follow-up period was lower for FFT than for control youth. The combination of cost savings realized from avoiding more costly services and the expected future savings due to recidivism reduction suggest the expanded use of evidence-based practices using public funding streams such as Medicaid is warranted.

“The Game Ain’t What It Used to Be”: Drug Sellers’ Perceptions of the Modern Day Underground and Legal Markets

This study draws on interviews with 20 drug sellers in Philadelphia to explore their subjective perceptions of risk and reward within the modern context of increased police scrutiny and few illegal or legal opportunities for social mobility. Most respondents earned little, viewed drug sales negatively, and perceived the next generation of drug sellers to be unpredictable and prone to risk. They sought exit opportunities, associating continued participation in drug sales with childhood and wishing to participate more fully in the mainstream economy. Half of the sample worked in legal employment, and many argued that this was both necessary and beneficial to reducing risk. The findings suggest that traditional theories explaining participation in drug sales may need to be re-examined in light of changes in the landscape of the drug economy. Moreover, they may provide context to understanding why deterrence-based policies have generally failed to disrupt drug markets.