When Helping Harms: The
Dangers of Need Based
Incarceration
Jaime Michel, PhD
Clinical Director,
East Bay Children’s Law Offices
Oakland, CA
Pathways to Desistance
Research Project
• Does placement, compared to
probation, reduce future offending (selfreported & arrests)?
• (Loughran, Mulvey, Schubert, Fagan, Piquero, Losoya, 2009)
• Probation vs. Placement
• Accounted for:
–66 different variables
–Public vs. Private Placements
• Results: No difference b/w probation
and placement in reducing future
offending.
Alternatives to
Incarceration/placement for “highneeds”
Evidence-based and
promising programs
– MST
– FFT
– MTFC
– Wrap-around
Innovative Models
Safely Home
by Shaena M.
ate Programs
Youth Advoc
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Policy & Advoc
Fazal, Esq.
June 2014
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Alternatives to
Incarceration/placement for “high
needs”
• Child Welfare
• Mental/Behavioral Health
– Children Systems of Care
– Mobile Crisis Units
Racial/ethnic implications of need-based
placement decisions…
• Different forms of bias
• Implicit Racial Bias
• Unconscious racial stereotypes influence conscious attitudes
• Cultural/class Bias
• “What’s a “good family”, “good neighborhood”, good
parenting?”
Summary
• “High-needs” = very complicated cases
• Placement
– Easier, not necessarily more effective
– Cultural/class biases
• Community-based programs
– Harder, more benefits in the long run
References
Butts, J., Bazemore, G. , Meroe, A.S. (2010). Positive Youth Justice. Framing Justice
Interventions Using the Concepts of Positive Youth Justice. Washington DC, Coalition for
Juvenile Justice.
Graham, S.& Lowry, B.S. (2004). Priming Unconsious Racial Stereotypes about
Adolescent Offenders. Law and Human Behavior, 28, 403 – 503.
Loughran, T.A., Mulvey, E.P., Schubert, C.A., Fagan, J., Piquero, A.R., Losoya, S.H.
(2009). Estimating a Dose-Response Relationship between Lenth of Stay and Future
Recidivism in Serious Juvenile Offenders. Criminology, 47, 699-735.
Shaena, F. (2014). Safely Home: Reducing Youth Incarceration and achieving Positive
Outcomes for High and Complex Need Youth through Effective Community Programs.
Washington DC, Youth Advocate Programs, Policy and Adv