Helping Vietnamese Youths Avoid Prison’s Revolving Door : The key is helping them reenter their community. The alternative is a return to gangs--and crime.

Recent Orange County Probation Department data show an alarming increase in the arrest, adjudication and incarceration of Vietnamese youths committing crimes. In 1990, there were 84 felony petitions filed for Vietnamese youths in Orange County. In 1994, there were 296. The mean age for these youths in 1994 was just above 15 years old.

Vietnamese youths who are considered serious or violent juvenile offenders, convicted and subsequently incarcerated, face tremendous challenges in avoiding recidivism. One can attribute some of their problems to cultural and family problems.

In the early ‘80s, many Vietnamese youths who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors lived by themselves or with distant relatives, therefore receiving very little attention, adult supervision, love and affection. As a result, they sought peer groups whose members experienced similar situations, and some resorted to gang activities for support and survival.

Regarding children with at least one parent in the United States, statistics from our counseling programs reveal that more than half of the cases stem from family conflicts in which the parents were either too busy with survival needs or too unfamiliar with U.S. laws and culture to provide proper supervision of their children.

Once these youths have been incarcerated, Vietnamese families and parents consider them “lost children.” They are the source of shame for the family, for the community and, most important of all, are abandoned by both.

One Vietnamese mother lamented about the problems of her child who became involved with gang and drug activities, and was subsequently incarcerated. Her own comment about her son’s fate was most telling: “I am glad that he’s behind bars. That way he is no longer causing problems for the community and shame my family!”

Once the juveniles are released, they are no longer welcomed back by the parents. As a result, they often rejoin their negative peer groups for support and survival. Schools no longer become an option for these youth. Parents are willing to sacrifice “lost children” in order to save the rest of the children. These cultural problems are serious barriers for the youth and their families, often preventing first-time offenders opportunities to redeem themselves. The end result: recidivism.

As the numbers increase at this alarming rate, Orange County and affected cities remain insufficiently equipped to effectively address this issue. For example, the Probation Department currently has only two Vietnamese probation officers working full time on youth delinquency problems.

Recent staffing cutbacks due to the bankruptcy only exacerbated the Probation Department’s efforts to turn the tide. Police departments are continuously catching up with the fast increase of delinquency and criminal activities committed by Vietnamese youth gangs. School officials cannot seem to move beyond the status quo and are unwilling or unable to hire enough teachers who are bilingual and knowledgeable about cultures to meet their needs. This systemic problem is only making the situation more dangerous as our youths are moving toward delinquency at a higher proportional rate than would be expected for this population.

From a community standpoint, families are desperate with the need to establish themselves economically and move toward self-sufficiency. Some parents work two jobs in order to make ends meet, leaving little time for their latchkey children. Meanwhile, community resources, including gang prevention services, are scarce due to funding limitations. Traditional community institutions that serve as a secondary prevention safety net, such as Buddhist temples and churches, are still trying to reestablish their roles and become capable of providing support for this critical mass.

The situation requires drastic and immediate action, even in light of the bankruptcy and reduced state and federal funds. A three-year collaborative effort by the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc. and the Orange County Probation Department has begun to yield some promising results. As a community-based organization providing health and human services for refugees since 1979, the Vietnamese Community joined the department in an effort to reduce recidivism.

Our staff counselors provide weekly supervision and counseling support services for young people in county-run youth camps at Los Pinos and Joplin. Through our culturally based counseling support and regular contacts with parents by our counselors, the Vietnamese Community aims to prepare our youths for their eventual reentry into the schools, the community and their families.

Program counselors also provide assistance to probation officers in overseeing activities of released juveniles, particularly those who are released early. As liaisons between juveniles and their parents, the community and schools, the community counselors are able to assist with their development to prevent recidivism. Early results demonstrate that we have been able to reduce the recidivism rate from above 60% to around 20%.

For every youth that we can keep from reincarceration, the system saves approximately $20,000 per year, as well as reducing further victimization in the community. For every young man that we can successfully keep out of the criminal justice system, the community regains a critical human resource. For every son we return to the family, the healing process begins.