WASHINGTON: A LETTER TO AN EDITOR

How to Reach Troubled Youths

Courtland Milloy's Feb. 8 Metro column, "Violence, Drugs and Questions That Youths Need to Answer," asked young people to explain some of the crimes that they have committed. As the head of the District's juvenile justice agency, I ask young people essentially the same questions. Their answers might surprise some.

When asked what we should do to fix the Oak Hill Youth Center, which houses juvenile offenders, their answers were "better education," "more staff," "more rehabilitative programs," "better aftercare programs" -- not a suggestion for violent video games in the bunch. In my 25 years of working with troubled youth, I do not find this to be unusual.

To address juvenile crime my agency has incorporated the "Positive Youth Development" (PYD) approach, which amounts to "catching kids doing something right."

The typical practice for juvenile justice systems is control; for PYD, it's connecting youths with long-term resources. A traditional approach would put youth on electronic monitoring; PYD mentors them and engages them in career-path work experiences.

By getting troubled young people to return something to their communities through work and service, by linking them with positive role models who help them see that there's a way to make better choices and by listening to them, we will turn many more lives around than "three hots and a cot" at Oak Hill ever could.

Vikncent Schiraldi
13 March 13 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/12/AR2006031200810.html

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