Sports for Juvenile Justice
This project's parent organization is Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative
It operates in United States
It uses Multiple sports
Winner of the Best New Project
More about Sports for Juvenile Justice
A study by the Council on Crime and Justice found that juvenile offenders who did not go on to re-offend as adults identified that the juvenile justice system alone had minimal effects on changing their lifestyles. These startling statistics show that to reduce the crime rate and address other problems, more attention should be focused on providing youth with additional support systems.
In June 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collaborated with the Philadelphia Juvenile Probation Department (PJPD), and the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative (PYSC) to create a pilot program that seeks to divert at-risk juveniles from further contact with the justice system.
“Sports for Juvenile Justice” places juvenile offenders into one of several PYSC programs. These programs offer activities such as golf, tennis, squash, running, soccer, and wrestling; as well as homework help, adult mentoring, and similar interventions. Probation Officers (POs) identify individual youth and, with the help of CustomEd, connect them to programs that are a good fit in terms of interests, location, schedules, and other criteria. PYSC program staff and POs participate in ongoing orientations and training. Lastly, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center has designed a mixed-method evaluation and will collect and analyze student data, indicators, and outcomes.