Decreasing the Ohio DYS Population: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Targeted RECLAIM

• In Event: Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Strategies: Evaluating the Targeted RECLAIM Program in Ohio

Abstract

Recently, the Juvenile Justice Policy Institute has urged states to alter the “fiscal architecture” of their juvenile justice systems (Petteruti, Velazquez, & Walsh, 2009). As a reinvestment strategy, many states have responded by funding community-based programs to deal with delinquent offenders with some of the money previously earmarked for juvenile incarceration. Section I describes the purpose and intentions of one such juvenile justice reinvestment strategy in Ohio: Targeted RECLAIM. This section examines the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) admission data in order to assess if the Targeted RECLAIM program decreased the Ohio DYS population as intended. Specifically, this section uses an interrupted time series analysis to compare the differences in DYS commitments between the counties participating in Targeted RECLAIM to those counties not participating in the program.

Authors

• Kelsey L. Mattick, University of Cincinnati

• Ryan M. Labrecque, University of Cincinnati

• Myrinda Schweitzer, University of Cincinnati

• Edward Latessa, University of Cincinnati