A controlled study of the impact of a juvenile education program on the recidivism rates of
juveniles was performed. The program involved introducing the juveniles to the realities of
prison life. No significant differences between experimental and control groups in the
mean number of self-reported status or criminal offenses committed during the premeasure or follow-up period was found. A finding that youths categorized as more delinquent
were affected differently by program attendance compared to youths categorized as less
delinquent is offered as a tentative explanation of the conflicting results of prior studies of
this type of intervention.
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