Coming back home: The reintegration of formerly incarcerated youth with service implications Elizabeth K. Anthony a, ⁎, Mark D. Samples b , Dylan Nicole de Kervor b , Silvina Ituarte c , Chris Lee b , Michael J. Austin b a Arizona State University, United States b University of California, Berkeley, United States c California State University, East Bay, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 16 March 2010 Accepted 18 April 2010 Available online 24 April 2010 Keywords: Formerly incarcerated youth Community reintegration Positive youth development Social and educational services More than 100,000 youth return each year from some form of detention in a juvenile justice facility to families and communities with needs of their own. Despite information about the offense types and general demographic characteristics of detained youth, less is known about the needs and experiences of youth as they prepare to re-enter the community after a period of detention or how they fare post-release. A heightened awareness of the complex array of needs and the match between these needs and the social and educational service sector has the potential to streamline the reintegration process, with advantages for public safety, reduced recidivism, and promotion of positive youth development. This paper analyzes the needs of formerly incarcerated youth with a focus on the implications for social and educational service systems. Results suggest that intervening with youth involved in the juvenile justice system requires a coordinated, holistic approach. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Approximately 100,000 incarcerated youth have been released from the physical custody of the juvenile justice system following conviction and returned to the community with another 97,000 currently held in placement (Snyder & Sickmund, 2006). Youth returning to the community come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and have spent varying lengths of time incarcerated for offenses such as simple assault, drug trafficking, and stolen property. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP, 2008) reports general characteristics of incarcerated juveniles and arrest statistics; however, less is known about how these young people fare after they return to their communities and further, how communities can mobilize and coordinate resources to meet the needs of these young people. The difficulty many formerly incarcerated juveniles experience suggests that a number of needs persist beyond release (Bazemore & Terry, 1997). Many of these needs likely existed prior to the incarceration and played a role in the offense(s) resulting in arrest. Youth in residential placement with the juvenile justice system may have been involved in some form of social and/or educational services prior to incarceration and may continue to receive services such as special education while incarcerated. Many youth, however, do not receive the services they need prior to incarceration or while in residential placement (Altschuler & Brash, 2004; Steinberg, Chung, & Little, 2004). In both circumstances, the point of incarceration holds great potential for comprehensive assessment for a range of medical, social, and behavioral needs such as mental health and substance abuse assessment. Despite this assessment opportunity, the formal detention/ incarceration process disrupts services that may be in place and tends to complicate re-establishment of services post-release for a number of reasons. First, youth are physically removed from their families, schools, and communities. Despite the fact that some disruption may be necessary, arguably the disruption would need to lead to positive changes for the young person and the family, school, and community for the time away to be productive. Second, by the time a young person is detained, he or she likely has exhausted other options for residential placement. Formal services such as mental health services and vocational training may not be accessible and formal and informal supports such as family members, teachers, and case managers may now believe that responsibility for this young person has been relinquished to the juvenile justice system, for better or for worse. These factors present considerable barriers to the coordination of reintegration efforts. Ideological perspectives on the role of incarceration for young people also play a critical role in the treatment of juvenile offenders. The juvenile justice system has undergone vast changes in the past 100 years, vacillating between punitive and rehabilitative models in an effort to strike a balance between keeping the community safe and rehabilitating youth. The policy cycles of punishment-oriented phases Children and Youth Services Review 32 (2010) 1271–1277 ⁎ Corresponding author. School of Social Work Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004-0689, United States. Tel.: + 1 602 496 1197. E-mail address: Elizabeth.anthony@asu.edu (E.K. Anthony). 0190-7409/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.04.018 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth