Evolution of Mentoring Relationships Involving Young Male Offenders Transitioning from a Juvenile Justice Centre to the Community
| Author | Danielle Tracey,José Hanham |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225417699169 |
| Published date | 01 August 2017 |
| Date | 01 August 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225417699169
Youth Justice
2017, Vol. 17(2) 116 –133
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225417699169
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Evolution of Mentoring Relationships
Involving Young Male Offenders
Transitioning from a Juvenile Justice
Centre to the Community
José Hanham and Danielle Tracey
Abstract
This qualitative longitudinal study focused on adolescent males who were being formally mentored during
their transition from a juvenile justice centre to the community. Pre-release, the young men feared being
exposed to negative peer influences and uncertainty about the future. In response to this anxiety, the young
men valued the mentor as a guide, confidant and "watchdog". Post-release, the concerns of the young men
turned to a sense of disconnection, institutionalisation and difficulties securing employment. Here, the young
men required their mentors to be reliable, build confidence and assist with educational and occupational
opportunities. The findings both inform our theoretical understanding of mentoring and provide direction
for supporting young offenders in the transition back into the community.
Keywords
longitudinal, male youth offenders, mentoring, transitions
Introduction
There has been a long-standing need for effective strategies to assist adolescents and
young adults transition successfully from juvenile justice centres to the community
(Abrams et al., 2011; Bouffard and Bergseth, 2008). In Australia, juvenile justice centres
are facilities for young people (16–21 years of age) who have been convicted of serious
criminal offences and are required to serve a custodial sentence. Although there are likely
to be varying viewpoints as to what constitutes a successful transition, the absence of
recidivism is an outcome often cited as a measure of success by juvenile justice agencies
and the broader community (Payne, 2007). A trend in Australia, England and Wales is that
adolescents tend to have higher reoffending rates than adults (Australian Institute of
Corresponding author:
José Hanham, School of Education, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
Email: j.hanham@westernsydney.edu.au
699169YJJ0010.1177/1473225417699169Youth JusticeHanham and Tracey
research-article2017
Article
Hanham and Tracey 117
Criminology, 2012; Ministry of Justice, 2015). In Australia, it has been reported that 44
percent of young offenders return to supervised sentences within 1 year of initially being
released (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). In England and Wales, reoff-
ending rates for juvenile offenders have been reported at 37.8 percent (Ministry of Justice,
2015). Involvement in criminal activity among young people appears to follow two trajec-
tories (Moffitt, 2006; Piquero et al., 2007). For most juvenile offenders, involvement in
criminal activity is temporary, peaking during late adolescence and declining in early
adulthood (Richards, 2011). However, a small proportion of young offenders adopt a life
course of criminal behaviour (Moffitt, 2006). Continuity of offending from adolescence
to adulthood is more prevalent among juveniles who commence criminal activities in
their pre-teen years (Loeber et al., 2013).
There are significant tangible and intangible costs associated with young offenders
who are not successful in their reintegration into the community and who adopt a life
course of crime (Piquero et al., 2013). Estimates of the financial costs imposed on society
per offender are in the millions of dollars, which includes money spent on prevention,
incarceration and post-release supervision (Cohen et al., 2010). There are also a range of
costs for the victims, including medical expenses and emotional distress, pain and suffer-
ing, which may extend beyond the immediate victims to their families and friends.
Consequently, identifying effective strategies that may reduce reoffending behaviour is a
significant issue of our time.
While there is a substantial body of research concerning the factors that lead adoles-
cents to engage in criminal activity, more empirical research needs to be directed towards
identifying factors that may steer young offenders away from further criminal activity
upon release into the community (Mulvey et al., 2004). For youth in juvenile justice cen-
tres, re-entry into the community presents numerous challenges (Unruh et al., 2009).
These may include dealing with dysfunctional family relationships (Alltucker et al.,
2006), disassociating from delinquent peer group networks (Lachman et al., 2013), sub-
stance abuse (Kang et al., 2015) and mental health issues (Burke et al., 2015), cognitive
and social–emotional difficulties (Snow and Powell, 2011), inadequate education and
workforce readiness skills (Bullis and Yovanoff, 2006), limited social and financial sup-
port (Payne, 2007), and difficulty accessing and affording stable housing (Tam et al.,
2016). In addition to grappling with the arduous task of transitioning back into the com-
munity, young offenders also have to manage the developmental challenges accompany-
ing the transition from adolescence to young adulthood (Altschuler and Brash, 2004).
Research suggests that young offenders with exposure to violence have lower levels of
future orientation (Monahan et al., 2015), and as such, have diminished capacity to set
future goals and plans (Lindstrom Johnson et al., 2014).
Given the numerous difficulties faced by young people transitioning from juvenile jus-
tice centres to the community, it is not surprising that transitional planning and services are
recognised (Clinkinbeard and Zohra, 2012) as critical for increasing the likelihood that
young offenders will reintegrate successfully into society. From a range of re-entry services
that may enhance the rehabilitative prospects of young offenders, mentoring is emerging as
one of the most widely utilised approaches (Blechman and Bopp, 2005; Miller et al., 2013).
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