The Cycle of Incarceration: Failures of the Current System
Oklahoma incarcerates youth at one of the highest rates in the nation. Over 7,000 youth are admitted to juvenile detention facilities each year, with Native American and African American youth disproportionately represented. The current system focuses on punishment rather than rehabilitation, setting youth on a trajectory toward adult incarceration.
Nearly 80% of incarcerated youth will re-offend within 3 years of release. This cycling in and out of the system fails to address the underlying causes of delinquency, including poverty, trauma, lack of education, broken families, and addiction. The lack of rehabilitative and reentry programs leads youth back to criminal behaviors that first landed them behind bars.
The collateral consequences of incarceration reverberate through families and communities. DETENTION CENTERS HAVE BECOME THE STATE’S DE FACTO DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR TEENS. Incarcerated youth are cut off from positive supports like family, school, and community programs. Isolation and lack of care exacerbate mental health issues stemming from childhood trauma.
Upon release, youth struggle to meet basic needs and lack the tools to avoid influences driving previous criminal behaviors. The stigma of a criminal record creates barriers to education, employment, and housing.
We Must Move Beyond Punishment Towards Rehabilitation
Rather than writing youth off as hardened criminals, we need a justice system focused on second chances. While accountability is important, punishment alone changes little. Lasting change requires rehabilitation programs aimed at building life skills, furthering education, addressing trauma, strengthening family relationships, and providing mentorship.
Evidence shows rehabilitative approaches better serve youth, reduce recidivism, and promote public safety. Risk factors for delinquency often lie outside an individual’s control in their social environments. All youth have the potential for positive change when connected to caring adults and supportive systems.
Comprehensive Wrap-Around Services: The New Day Model
New Day Recovery Family and Youth Services provides an alternative rehabilitative approach focused on the well-being of the whole person. Our wraparound care model addresses risks across multiple life domains.
We begin with a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment identifying clinical, functional, and environmental drivers of behaviors. Individualized treatment plans are developed to build on strengths while addressing underlying trauma, mental health issues, family dynamics, educational deficits, and substance use.
A multidisciplinary team works closely with the youth and family to coordinate care across service systems. Treatment modalities address cognitive, emotional, and social development arrested by trauma. This includes individual, group, and family counseling utilizing evidence-based interventions such as TF-CBT, DBT, CBT, and motivational interviewing.
Youth participate in prosocial activities promoting health, wellness, and community involvement. Care extends beyond the individual to stabilize the family system. Parents and caregivers receive parenting support, counseling, case management, and access to resources.
We surround youth with positive mentors and peer support to shift their identity away from that of juvenile delinquents. Through partnerships with education, mentoring, and workforce development programs, we expand opportunities, inspire hope, and plan for the future.
Seamless Reentry: Setting Youth Up for Success
Reentry planning begins at intake, identifying needed supports around education, employment, transportation, healthcare, housing, and more. Prior to release we connect youth and families to community resources to ease the transition home.
Post-release care coordination ensures continuity of services and quick intervention at the first signs of reoffending behaviors. We empower families to advocate for their child’s needs across systems. By taking an upstream approach focused on prevention, we alter youths’ trajectory from the cycle of recidivism to the path of possibility.
The Ripple Effects of Rehabilitation
Breaking cycles of incarceration requires more than just keeping youth out of detention facilities. It means setting them on the path toward happy, healthy, and productive lives.
Our programming builds life skills, self-efficacy, and motivation for the future. Educational and vocational opportunities expand visions of what’s possible beyond the poverty, violence, and substance abuse pervasive in the environments youth return to.
As youth transform their own lives, the ripple effects touch families and communities. The bonds built with positive peers and mentors develop social capital and social control to deter crime long-term. Healthier families form as parents and caregivers learn new strategies for relating to and supporting their children.
By empowering youth as agents of change in their own lives, New Day helps write new stories of hope for generations to come.
The First Step Towards Change
Lasting change begins with a phone call. If your child is caught in the cycle of incarceration, take the first step and reach out. Our team brings decades of experience working with Oklahoma’s justice-involved youth. We walk alongside families from the moment of crisis intervention through successful reintegration back home.
Set up a consultation today to discuss your child’s unique situation and needs. Call +1 (405)-525-0452 or visit https://www.newdayok.org/ to learn more about our programs. Help is a phone call away.