A Valuable Retreat for At-Risk Youths : Probation Department on Right Path With Recent Trip

The Orange County Probation Department continues to do good work in trying to identify youths most likely to become juvenile delinquents and to steer them away from crime.

Several weeks ago the department took 52 youngsters, ages 13 to 17, for a weekend in the mountains above Pasadena. Most came from poor neighborhoods in Anaheim, with others from Santa Ana, Buena Park and Fullerton.

Many of the teen-agers were gang members, and the objective of the weekend was to break through their defenses and let them connect with adults. It was a worthwhile effort and deserves to be repeated.

The weekend away was a first for the Orange County Probation Department, but it was modeled on a Los Angeles program that has operated with inner-city teens for 20 years. To their credit, Los Angeles Probation Department workers were generous in their assistance to their counterparts in Orange County.

The program also benefited from more than 40 adult volunteers, many from the Orange County Probation Department and some from other gang and drug prevention programs in the two counties. Their presence should send a signal to the youths that there are adults who care what happens to them.

Some counselors in the program were former gang members, who told of decisions made as teen-agers that nearly ruined their lives. There was much discussion of spirituality and lessons on how to cope with family problems.

Parts of the weekend proceedings were videotaped, and the film was shown to parents of some of the teen-agers who gathered at an Anaheim church. One volunteer said the purpose of the tapes was to show parents that “this was not the same teen-ager who left” on the bus Friday afternoon. Many parents were impressed with the sessions and made efforts to reach out to their children.

Parental concern and involvement clearly is important. Without it, the efforts to steer youngsters away from crime become much more difficult. The man who operates the site where the teens gathered, Brother Modesto Leon, also runs programs to teach parenting skills. Not only can adults get help in dealing with their children, they can get a valuable additional source of support from networking with other parents experiencing the same problems.

The Probation Department’s anti-gang efforts are also showing fruit on a related front. Two years ago the department announced that its study of juvenile delinquents found that 8% of the offenders had committed more than half the repeat cases in the juvenile justice system.

The department wisely instituted a follow-up program based on early intervention, targeting minors 15 or younger considered likely to wind up in the 8% someday. There, too, families are involved, with visits to the home and offers of assistance to obtain food or clothing if needed.

In the past year the department has included several dozen minors and more than 200 family members in the follow-up pilot program. So far, those targeted have had fewer run-ins with the law than at-risk youths outside the program.

The department rightly has taken pains not to exaggerate the results of the pilot program. The increasing violence of gangs in Orange County has become a problem in many communities and is not susceptible to easy solutions.

Poverty, drugs, alienation and family breakups all have been cited as reasons why young people join gangs. But the Probation Department appears to be on the right track in keeping at least some teen-agers away from crime.