Operation New Hope

Intervention; Ages 16–22

Risk Factors

Individual: Exposure to firearm violence; Few social ties (involved in social activities, popularity); High alcohol/drug use; High drug dealing; Illegal gun ownership/carrying; Physical violence/aggression; Violent victimization

Family: Delinquent/gang-involved siblings; Family history of problem behavior/criminal involvement; Family poverty/low family socioeconomic status; Family violence (child maltreatment, partner violence, conflict); Poor parental supervision (control, monitoring, and child management)

School: Low school attachment/bonding/motivation/commitment to school; Poor school attitude/performance; academic failure

Community: Availability of firearms; Feeling unsafe in the neighborhood; High-crime neighborhood; Neighborhood youth in trouble

Peer: Association with antisocial/aggressive/delinquent peers; high peer delinquency; Association with gang-involved peers/relatives; Peer alcohol/drug use

Description

The Operation New Hope program in San Bernadino and Riverside Counties, California, is an aftercare treatment program for youthful offenders released from the California Youth Authority. The reintegration approach is based on six principles of programmatic action that address risk and protective factors for delinquency and gang involvement:

Improve the basic socialization skills necessary for successful reintegration into the community.
Significantly reduce criminal activity in terms of amount and seriousness.
Alleviate the need for or dependence on alcohol or illicit drugs.
Improve overall lifestyle choices (i.e., social, education, job training, and employment).
Reduce the individual’s need for gang participation and affiliation as a support mechanism.
Reduce the high rate of short-term parole revocations.

The treatment regimen consists of 13 counseling modules, each of which represents a three-hour program of lecture and group discussion. Participants are exposed to a series of lifestyle choices designed to restore self-control of their lives and initiate a positive decision-making process geared toward success.

An outcome study showed considerable program success. Individuals assigned to the control group were about twice as likely as experimental group members to have been arrested and to have abused drugs and/or alcohol frequently since release. In addition, only 8 percent of the Operation New Hope youths associated frequently with former gang associates, versus 27 percent of the control group members.

Endorsements

National Gang Center and OJJDP Model Programs Guide: Effective program

Contacts

Mr. Greg Baugh
Supervising Parole Agent
Division of Juvenile Justice
5700 Division Street, Suite 200
Riverside, CA 92506
Phone: (951)782-3214
Fax: (951)782-4918

Dale K. Sechrest, Ph.D.
Department of Criminal Justice
California State University—San Bernardino
5500 University Parkway
San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397
Phone: (909) 537-5506
E-mail: dsechres@csusb.edu

References

Josi, D., and Sechrest, D. K. (1999). “A Pragmatic Approach to Parole Aftercare: Evaluation of a Community Reintegration Program for High-Risk Youthful Offenders.” Justice Quarterly, 16:51–80.