A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Restorative Justice Programming for Disadvantaged, Rural Youth

Background:Teen court is an alternative to the traditional juvenile justice system that seeks to re-integrate first time, adolescent offenders into society through prosocial sanctions delivered by a peer jury. Although various studies have highlighted the effectiveness of teen court in reducing recidivism rates, few, if any, have examined the impact of teen court on other aspects of adolescent psychosocial functioning. Further, the majority of teen court studies focus on urban areas.

Methods:The current study aimed to fill these gaps in the literature by examining social and psychological behaviors before and after teen court participation in a sample of racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (N=257) and their caregivers (N=215) from a low income, rural county in the South. A sample (N=2,260) of youth from a neighboring county was used as a normative comparison group. Data were gathered using the School Success Profile Plus (SSP+). The quality of friend and parent-adolescent relationships as well as adolescent psychological functioning (i.e., aggression, violence, delinquency, internalizing symptoms) were assessed at pre-test and again six months later, following the completion of the teen court program.

Results/Discussion: Results indicated that the overall recidivism rate for the teen court sample was 5.4%, a rate far lower than that typically found in the traditional juvenile justice system. Compared to the normative comparison group at pre-test, the teen court sample reported higher rates of internalizing symptoms, aggression, violence, delinquent friends, and peer pressure. However, at post-test, the teen court sample reported rates equal to or healthier than the normative comparison sample. Specifically, teen court participants reported significant decreases in delinquent friends, peer pressure, aggression, violence, and internalizing symptoms from pre- to post-test. These decreases were not evident in the normative sample, suggesting that teen court played a role in improving participants’ social relationships as well as their psychological functioning. In addition, parents of teen court participants reported significant decreases in aggressive, violent, and delinquent behaviors, as well as decreased parent-adolescent conflict from pre- to post-test. Findings indicate that participation in teen court is associated with improved friendships, mental health functioning, parent-adolescent relationships as well as decreased aggression, violence, and delinquency. In addition to decreasing juvenile recidivism, teen court appears to serve as a prevention program that helps bolster against poor mental health functioning, deviant behavior, and negative social relationships.