Green Brigade: Horticultural Learn-and-Earn Program for Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

118 U rban centers throughout the United States are faced with youth disaffection, which translates into increased participation in criminal activities and other antisocial behavior. Social scientists and law enforcement experts are searching for ways to address the problem within the context of limited available revenue and reduced confidence in traditional social-intervention tactics. Gardening projects may be an acceptable option to address the growing problem of antisocial behavior by youth. Gardeners intuitively credit the hobby with a powerful contribution to feelings of well-being and increased self-esteem. In her work to reduce vandalism by the poor children of Rome, M. Montessori (1912) described the effect of gardening among her charges as instilling “peaceful equilibrium and the first germs of wisdom which so characterized the tillers of the soil. ” She also said that the children who gardened were “initiated into observation of the phenomena of life...as interest and observation grow, [children’s] zealous care for living creatures grows... and [they] can be brought to appreciate the care which mother and teacher take of [them] .“ Nature writer J. Cornell (1989) wrote, “As we begin to feel our common bond of life with living things around us, our actions become more harmonious in an unforced, natural way, and we become concerned for the needs and well-being of all creatures.”