Halfway Houses Pay Off

Abstract

The violation rate among juveniles and youths paroled from federal institutions has been running around 50 per cent in recent years. In an effort to reduce this rate the Attorney General and the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons decided to try out the "halfway house" idea. More formally termed prerelease guidance centers, four have been opened in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Detroit. The centers are still considered experimental, but preliminary data suggest that they can mark edly reduce the incidence of parole failure. They serve to reintro duce the youths to their communities and families in a more gradual way and help to resolve the inevitable problems the youths encounter in earning acceptance and a place for them selves in the business and industrial world. The centers have worked so well that the Department of Justice plans to extend the program to adult releasees as soon as authorizing legislation can be obtained.