Evaluation of the Paint Creek Youth Center: A Residential Program for Serious Delinquents

• NCJ Number: 142587
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1993) Pages: 263-279
• Date Published: 1993
• Author(s): P W Greenwood; S T Rand
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-IJ-CX-0049; 85-JN-CX-0016
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored; OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

A classic experimental design was used to determine whether youths assigned to the Paint Creek Youth Center (PCPYC), a residential program designed to provide a comprehensive and highly structured array of intervention services and activities, received significantly different treatment and performed better than control youths assigned to Ohio's traditional training schools.

Abstract

At the 1-year followup, the data showed no significant differences in arrests or self-reported delinquency between the experimental and control groups. Interviews with both staff and youth suggest that the PCYC did deliver significantly more treatment services and may have had some modest positive effects on postrelease behavior and arrests. The evaluation may provide support to the argument that programs such as PCYC can be operated as cost-effectively as training schools and with no undue risk to the public and that such programs will be perceived as superior to training schools regardless of their actual impact. 8 notes, 1 figure, 3 tables, and 23 references