Criminology Research Council grant ; (2/90)
This report describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of the WorksYde employment and training program in reducing the criminal behaviour, improving the work attitudes and increasing the levels of psychological health among the participants. The primary aims of this project were to assess the effects of the program and to identify those variables that influence the relationship between participation in the program and a reduction in criminal behaviour.
Interviews were conducted with male juvenile delinquents who were involved in the WorksYde program and who therefore would, as required, be aged between 14 and 18 years with at least six court sanctions. A longitudinal design was utilised in which an attempt was made to interview subjects twice with approximately three to six months between interviews. Subjects were interviewed while they were incarcerated (Longmore Remand, Longmore Training or Riverbank), were on the Community Based Offenders Program (CBOP), or were unemployed or employed. Female subjects were omitted from the study due to circumstances beyond the control of the current project.
Subjects were individually interviewed using a structured interview schedule. This technique was used rather than group testing as it was found to be the most reliable method by which to obtain data from this subject population. The interviews were used to discover information about the subjects' general labour market attitudes, levels of general psychological well-being, social support network, and criminal activities.
The results suggested that the WorksYde program had been generally successful. Clients who had obtained employment engaged in more constructive leisure and other positive activities, while their counterparts who had not found employment showed little change in their patterns of activity.