Reaffirming Young Sister’s Excellence (RYSE) (OJJDP Model Program Guide)

Office of Justice Programs, Innovation - Partnerships – Safer Neighborhoods

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Serving Children, Families and Communities

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Reaffirming Young Sister’s Excellence (RYSE)

Intervention:

Reaffirming Young Sister’s Excellence (RYSE) is an intensive community treatment and intervention program designed to provide a continuum of gender-specific and responsive services to adjudicated females ages 12–17. The overall goal of the program is to reduce recidivism; a corollary goal is to promote the development of the participants’ social, academic, and vocational competencies so they can sustain crime-free and economically secure lifestyles. The program also aims to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of family fragmentation and delinquency through the provision of family-focused services for youths who already are pregnant or parenting.

The Alameda County (Calif.) Probation Department instituted the RYSE program from July 1997 through June 2001 to address the growing number of females involved with the juvenile justice system. RYSE was developed specifically to address the disproportionate representation of African-American girls in the Alameda County system. RYSE interventions were developed with attention to the cultural events, activities, and competencies of this population, and the RYSE intervention team (counselors, teachers, and service providers) and probation officers were more reflective of the African-American and Hispanic clientele.

An integral component of the RYSE program was to forge a strong and meaningful relationship between the juvenile and her probation officer. Predicated on the theory that girls’ lives revolve around relationships and that a relationship with a probation officer could be a significant and effective factor in a youth’s life, each RYSE participant had one probation officer for the duration of her probation. Additionally, the program aimed to create additional opportunities for a youth to develop a strong rapport with her probation officer in different contexts; thus, probation officers often transported the girls to various interventions, led or taught various interventions, and were accessible by cell phone 24/7.

A second integral component of the program was the provision of more intensive supervision and treatment services than were provided by traditional probation services. Upon entry into the program, a Comprehensive Adolescent Severity Index (CASI) was conducted with each youth, and individual case plans were developed to address identified needs. The interventions developed to address youth needs were generally divided into two categories: 1) mandatory programs such as the provision of life-skills interventions and 2) services designed to sanction or treat case-specific needs. Each set of interventions had its own set of specific graduation criteria by which completion was measured. Examples of RYSE services include weekly contact with probation officers, including home visits; programmatic therapy; interventions, including concrete funds for emergency situations; leadership opportunities; life-skills courses; and teen pregnancy/teen parenting services. Notably, there were numerous interventions that were part of the traditional probation services or specific to the youths’ individual case plans that were not included as a structured part of the RYSE curriculum. These included financial restitution programs, community service programs, mental health counseling, and English as a Second Language education.

RYSE participants also participated in special events such as mother–daughter tea, gardening, the African-American nativity performance, African-American leadership conferences, and professional sporting events. Additionally, RYSE families were provided with programmatic therapy and services, which included encouraging family members to attend parent education and support groups, program activities, and graduation ceremonies.

Evaluation Methodology:

Study 1
The RYSE program was evaluated by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (2001) with an experimental design that randomly assigned adjudicated females to either a treatment or a comparison group. The treatment group received all of the RYSE services, while the comparison group received traditional probation services. Eligibility for participation included being a 12- to 17-year-old female, having no severe emotional problems as determined by an assessment completed by the Youth Guidance Clinic, and having a court date for a pretrial hearing. The randomization process resulted in 690 cases getting selected for the study, of which 119 were dropped. The full sample included 571 cases (450 cases were assigned into the treatment group, 121 to the comparison group). The treatment group was intentionally made larger so that more youths could be exposed to RYSE services.

The treatment group was composed of 32 participants (7 percent) age 13 and younger, 166 participants (37 percent) 14–15 years old, 106 participants (24 percent) age 16, and 146 (32 percent) 17 years old and over. Roughly 50 percent of the participants were African-American, 17 percent Hispanic, 8 percent Asian or Pacific Islander, and 15 percent white. There were no significant group differences in terms of demographics. However, there were some notable differences at program entry, such as that girls in the treatment group were more than 50 percent more likely to have been identified as having a drug problem and three times as likely to have been abused at home, to have more children of their own, and to have documented school attendance problems.

The evaluation assessed various outcomes (completion of program requirements, completion of conditions of probation, and subsequent delinquent behavior) for youths at four follow-up periods (post program, 6, 12, and 18 months). A variety of qualitative and quantitative data collection strategies were used, including interviews, focus groups, surveys, RYSE utilization data, site visits, and observations. The main sources of quantitative data included the Common Data Elements (a 118-question participant survey), records from the Alameda County Probation Department, and CASI.

Evaluation Outcome:

Study 1
Postprogram Follow-Up
The postprogram analysis found that while participants in the treatment group were over 50 percent more likely to complete probation during the intervention period than their comparison group counterparts, no group differences existed for the length of time spent in the program. On average, RYSE treatment participants spent 12½ months in the program, compared with 13 months and 1 week for girls assigned to the comparison group.

Youths in the treatment group were more likely to have been assigned both financial restitution and community service as conditions of their probation; 52 percent of the treatment group had restitution requirements versus 43 percent for the control group, while 36 percent of the treatment group had community service requirements compared with 18 percent for the control group. Among youths who were assigned these requirements, those in the treatment group were significantly more likely to have met their restitution requirements during the intervention period.

There were no significant group differences in the recidivism rates during the intervention (35 percent of the treatment group and 36 percent of the comparison group). There was also no relationship found to exist between group membership and sustaining arrest charges during the intervention period; 6 in 10 subjects with a re-arrest during the intervention had at least one sustained charge during that period. However, results showed that the treatment group was re-arrested on less-severe charges than the comparison group.

Six-Month Follow-Up
Analysis of results from the 1st follow-up period, conducted 6 months after the intervention completion, shows that the treatment group was still more likely to have completed probation, although by a smaller margin. Analysis from this 1st follow-up period indicates that 14 percent of the subjects were rearrested within 6 months of intervention completion; no significant group differences were found to exist between the treatment and control subjects. There were also no significant differences regarding the most-severe arrest charge.

Twelve-Month Follow-Up
Analysis of results from the 2nd follow-up period, conducted 12 months after the intervention completion, indicates that both comparison and treatment groups recidivated equally—23 percent versus 22 percent, respectively. Eighty percent more girls were arrested by month 12 than were arrested by month 6. The evaluation determined that African-American and Hispanic girls in the treatment group recidivated a lower rate than their counterparts in the comparison group; however, the opposite is true for Asian and white girls.

Eighteen-Month Follow-Up:
Analysis of results from the 3rd follow-up period, conducted 18 months after intervention completion, shows that 31 percent of the subjects were arrested at least once during the 18-month period. While no significant group differences were found to exist, results indicate that the rate of growth between the 12-month and 18-month follow-up periods is 39 percent for the comparison group, compared with 18 percent for the treatment group. This lends support to the assumption that treatment participants who reach the 12-month mark without being re-arrested are much less likely to recidivate than their peers in the comparison group.

Other Information:

Cost–Benefit Analysis
Analysis of financial data available through the Alameda County Probation Department indicates that the actual cost for the RYSE program from July 1997 through June 2001, including in-kind administrative costs, totaled slightly more than $6 million; in other words, the department spent more than $1.5 million a year on the program (well below the original projected total cost by more than $1.68 million). During this period, 567 girls received RYSE services, while 123 girls received traditional probation services. Distributed evenly, the probation department spends just over $10,600 per RYSE participant.

References:

National Council on Crime and Delinquency. 2001. Evaluation of the RYSE Program: A Report Prepared for Alameda County Probation Department. Oakland, Calif.: National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

Le, Thao N., I. Arifuku, and M. Nunez. 2003. “Girls and Culture in Delinquency Intervention: A Case Study of RYSE.” Juvenile and Family Court Journal 54(3):25–34.

Program Specification:

Current Rating:

Promising

Expected Date of Re-Review:

Summer 2013

Program Type:

Gender-Specific Programming

Probation Services

Wraparound / Case Management

Ethnicity:

Asian

African American

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)

White

Gender:

Female

Age:

12 - 17

Special Populations:

Females

Target Settings:

Urban

Problem Behaviors:

Aggression/Violence

Alcohol,Tobacco and Other Drug Use

Delinquency

Family Functioning

Risk & Protective Factors:

Risk

Community

Low community attachment

Family

Family management problems / Poor parental supervision and/or monitoring

Poor family attachment / Bonding

Individual

Antisocial behavior and alienation / Delinquent beliefs / General delinquency involvement / Drug dealing

Favorable attitudes toward drug use/Early onset of AOD use/Alcohol and/or drug use

Life stressors

School

Low academic achievement

Protective

Community

Presence and involvement of caring, supportive adults in the community

Prosocial opportunities for participation / Availability of neighborhood resources

Family

Good relationship with parents / Bonding or attachment to family

Opportunities for prosocial family involvement

Individual

Healthy / Conventional beliefs and clear standards

Perception of social support from adults and peers

Peer

Involvement with positive peer group activities

Additional Information:

Status:

Program is in operation at this time.

Performance Measures:

Suggested OJJDP Performance Measures for the Program Types(s):

Probation
Probation Services
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF

Contact Information: