Innovation Brief: Learn to Earn: PACTT Helps Delinquent Youths Gain Academic and Job Skills
Published Nov 30, 2012, Candace Putter, PACTT
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In a time of high unemployment, the lack of attention to education and career training for delinquent youths has aggravated the considerable barriers to employment they face upon release from custody. In 2008, Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice leadership launched an ambitious program to address these issues, coordinated by the Pennsylvania Academic and Career/Technical Training Alliance. PACTT-affiliated juvenile justice facilities have made significant changes in their education programs, aimed at helping delinquent youths succeed in further education and employment after their release.
This brief is one in a series describing new knowledge and innovations emerging from Models for Change, a multi-state juvenile justice initiative. Models for Change is accelerating movement toward a more effective, fair, and developmentally sound juvenile justice system by creating replicable models that protect community safety, use resources wisely, and improve outcomes for youths. The briefs are intended to inform professionals in juvenile justice and related fields, and to contribute to a new national wave of juvenile justice reform.