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High-risk
youth is a label used to
categorize and describe youth who share
the following characteristics:
-
are from poor families and
communities;
-
are (usually) high school dropouts,
homeless or young parents;
-
are unemployed or underemployed; and
-
are involved with or transitioning
from the child welfare or juvenile
justice systems.
Youth from minority groups are
disproportionately represented in these
categories.1
The problem with this definition is that
it tends not to disaggregate the range
of crimes that lead the youth into the
juvenile justice system. There are
insufficient distinctions made with
respect to the types of youth that fall
within them. The category high-risk
youth includes the young person who has
engaged in serious criminal and violent
behavior as well as those who have
engaged in lower-level offenses that may
not necessarily include violence.
What is at stake with such
categorizations? Incorrect sorting of
these populations has implications for
policy and programming. Those
interventions that work well for certain
types of youth who have been labeled as
at-risk or high-risk are not as
effective for the more violent youth who
are incorrectly placed in these two
categories. Poor sorting has a direct
affect on these youth who are in
desperate need of properly designed
interventions.
What I propose is that another category
be created that better sorts the youth
who are classified as high-risk. The
term proven risk encompasses the most
violent youth who have been placed in
the high-risk category. There are
specific criteria that define
proven-risk youth. They share the same
characteristics as youth who are in the
at-risk and high-risk categories. What
distinguishes proven-risk youth from
these other two types is that: they are
gang-involved; frequently use drugs;
have an incarcerated sibling and/or
parent; and have been incarcerated
before. Moreover, they have been
convicted in court for having committed
the following crimes:
-
gun possession;
-
armed robbery;
-
aggravated rape;
-
murder;
-
attempted murder;
-
armed home invasion;
-
serious assault against staff and/or
another inmate while incarcerated;
and/or
-
escape or attempted escape involving
a serious assault on staff.
By better defining the types of youth
who require intervention, policymakers,
foundations, and youth-oriented
non-profit organizations can better
deploy their resources in ways that will
be more likely to make a positive
difference in the lives of youth who
fall into the proven-risk youth
category.
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