Work and Teaching Machines as Delinquency Prevention Tools: A Four-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Carefully evaluated delinquency prevention programs have had little impact on their subjects, at least in terms of deterring official delinquency. Few projects meet the requirements of a controlled experiment, and fewer still have a follow-up to assess the long-term impact. This paper presents an analysis of the long-term impact of the Opportunities for Youth Project, which utilized two experimental variables: (1) a supervised work program and (2) teaching machines as confidence-building devices. The long-term assessment suggests that the work program was related to increased involvement in official delinquency. Furthermore, disadvantaged boys were more adversely affected than advantaged boys. The use of teaching machines seems to have had the opposite effect: it was related to decreased involvement in official delinquency, and disadvantaged boys were more positively affected than advantaged boys.