On Good Authority

              – 1 –
On Good Authority
Vol. 3, No. 7
January 2000
On Good Authority is a periodic
briefing on trends and issues in
criminal justice program evaluation.
This report was written by staff
Research Analyst Karen S. Levy
McCanna. It is a summary of program
evaluations of the Christian County
Extended Day Program, the Peoria
County Anti-Gang and Drug Abuse
Unit, and the Winnebago County Day
Reporting and Assessment Centers.
The evaluations were conducted by
the Center for Legal Studies at the
University of Illinois at Springfield.
Copies of the evaluations are available
from the Authority’s Research and
Analysis Unit.
The Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority is a state
agency dedicated to improving the
administration of criminal justice in
Illinois. The basic functions of the
Authority are criminal justice research,
federal and state grants administration,
and information systems development
and support.
For more information, or for copies of
this or other publications, contact the
Authority at (312) 793-8550, or visit
our Web site at www.icjia.state.il.us.
The evaluation was supported by grant #96-
DB-MU-0017 and grant #97-DB-MU-0017
awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance,
Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of
Justice. Points of view in this document do not
necessarily represent the official position or
policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois,
January 2000. Printing order #00-049; 3,000
copies.
George H. Ryan
Governor
Peter B. Bensinger
Chairman
Candice M. Kane
Executive Director
ILLINOIS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
INFORMATION AUTHORITY
Juvenile probation
programs evaluated
• Christian County Extended Day Program
• Peoria County Anti-Gang and Drug Abuse Unit
• Winnebago County Day Reporting and Assessment Centers
  The Christian County
Extended Day Program is
designed to extend expanded
probation supervision and
services to minors and
require their accountability.
A team from the Center for Legal
Studies at the University of
Illinois at Springfield evaluated
juvenile probation programs in Christian,
Peoria, and Winnebago counties. This On
Good Authority is a summary of these
process and initial impact evaluations,
which were funded by the Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority
using federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act funds
established under the Byrne Formula
Grant. The evaluations provide descrip-tions
of the three programs and examine
implementation issues.
Christian County Juvenile
Probation Extended Day Program
The Christian County Probation Depart-ment
began accepting juveniles into its
extended day
program in
October 1997. The
program is
designed to extend
expanded probation
supervision and
services to minors
and require their
accountability. It
attempts to reduce
the risk of
reoffending among participants and help
them avoid institutional placement.
Juveniles eligible for the program must
be between 12 and 17 years old, have at
least one prior delinquency adjudication,
have a current offense involving violence
or drugs, and be classified as needing
maximum supervision. Program partici-pants
are required to attend school or a
high school equivalency degree program,
and participate in “moral reconation”
therapy and life skills training. The
program provides access to mental
health and substance abuse assessment
and counseling services through con-tracts
with local service providers. At the
time of the evaluation, a certified teacher
was being sought for tutoring services.
Moral reconation therapy is a
treatment method designed for clients
resistant to treatment. The treatment
program is designed to assist the
participant’s development of moral
reasoning to induce more socially
acceptable decision-making. The
improved decision-making is intended to
enable the juveniles
to display socially
acceptable behav-iors
and reduce
reoffending. Life
skills training
addresses self-esteem
enhance-ment,
decision-making,
personal
control, and
interpersonal
communication. The training focuses on
the concept that social skills may be
taught, but maintenance and utilization of
acquired skills needs reinforcement if
they are to be remembered outside the
classroom. Both the moral reconation
therapy and the life skills training are