Law Enforcement Referral of At-Risk Youth: the SHIELD Program
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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention John J. Wilson, Acting Administrator November 2000 Law Enforcement From the Administrator Referral of At-Risk Youth: Police officers play a crucial role in the juvenile justice system, one that The SHIELD Program extends beyond enforcing the law. The police officer on the beat has first-hand knowledge of the commu- nity and its youth—knowledge that can prove a valuable asset in efforts Phelan A. Wyrick to prevent delinquency. The demand for effective approaches to of the SHIELD program grew out of the Initiated in 1996, with funding from the prevent juvenile delinquency and sub- recognition that law enforcement officers Bureau of Justice Assistance, the sequent adult criminal behavior is growing frequently encounter youth who are ex- Westminster, CA, police department’s across the Nation. The Office of Juvenile posed to conditions that predispose them Strategic Home Intervention and Early Justice and Delinquency Prevention to later delinquency and adult criminal Leadership Development (SHIELD) (OJJDP) actively supports the develop- behavior. Furthermore, the status and po- program takes advantage of contacts ment, evaluation, replication, and dissemi- sition of police and sheriff’s departments made by law enforcement officers to nation of information about promising and allow them to serve as unifying elements identify youth at risk of delinquency effective approaches to delinquency pre- in communitywide efforts to prevent and refer them to appropriate vention. The City of Westminster Police delinquency. community services. Department in Orange County, CA, has de- veloped an innovative strategy for enhanc- Not only are officers familiar with the youth in their communities, they are ing the prevention of delinquency by im- Identifying Youth At proving the use of existing community increasingly knowledgeable about Risk of Delinquency risk and protective factors related to resources. This Bulletin provides an over- Seasoned law enforcement officers in de- view of Westminster’s Strategic Home In- delinquency. This Bulletin describes how partments around the country have come the SHIELD program mobilizes these tervention and Early Leadership Develop- to recognize early warning signs for later ment (SHIELD) program. SHIELD uses assets to identify youth at risk of delinquency. Responding to calls, officers involvement in violent behavior, sub- contacts that law enforcement officers enter homes where youth have been ex- make in the normal course of their duties stance abuse, and gang activity and to posed to domestic violence, drug and al- address their needs through a multi- to identify at-risk youth and connect them cohol abuse, gang activity, neglect, and with community resources. By improving disciplinary team approach involving other criminal behavior. Officers see representatives from the community, coordination among law enforcement, so- youth who have been exposed to crime schools, and service agencies. cial services, community service provid- and violence on the streets, in their ers, and the school system, the SHIELD schools, and among their peers. Many I trust that this Bulletin—targeted to law program facilitates early identification and experienced officers know delinquent enforcement, policymakers, community treatment of at-risk youth who might oth- youth whose first encounters with law organizations, and others concerned erwise be overlooked. enforcement were as victims of crime or about juvenile justice issues—will assist other communities in their programming The SHIELD program was initiated in as family members of someone who was 1996 and funded through the California arrested. Officers frequently recognize to shield youth from delinquency. Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Plan- that such victimization experiences and John J. Wilson ning with Byrne Block Grant funds from exposure to criminal and delinquent fam- Acting Administrator the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of ily members are related to later offending. Justice Assistance. The logic and design Current research on the risk factors that become involved in violent behavior, sub- distinguish youth who are more likely to stance abuse, and gang activities. At-risk become involved in delinquency from youth are identified as those who are those who are less likely to do so con- exposed to family risk factors such as firms and expands on what some law en- domestic violence and other criminal forcement officers already know. Risk fac- activities in the home. Second, SHIELD tors can be defined as conditions in the provides youth with services that are tai- environment or in the individual that pre- lored to meet their individual needs by dict an increased likelihood of developing using a multidisciplinary team of repre- delinquent behavior (Brewer et al., 1995). sentatives from the community, schools, Risk factors for delinquency and violence and service agencies. The primary mecha- are generally described in five categories: nism that supports these goals is the community, individual, peer group, school youth referral process. related, and family (Brewer et al., 1995; Hawkins et al., 1998). Community risk fac- To illustrate how the SHIELD program rep- resents a change in traditional law en- tors include poverty, physical deteriora- tion, availability of drugs, and high crime forcement activities, consider the follow- ing scenario: rates. Individual risk factors include child- hood hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and A 911 emergency operator answers a risk taking. Peer group risk factors in- call from a woman in panic. The caller clude association with a peer group that factors related to social bonding (e.g., states that her husband has just has favorable attitudes toward delin- beaten her and is still in the house. A quency and gang membership. School- supportive relationships with family members or other adults), and healthy patrol car is dispatched to the scene. related risk factors include early and per- Officers find a bruised and shaken sistent antisocial behavior and academic beliefs and clear standards of behavior (e.g., norms that oppose crime and vio- woman waiting in her front yard with failure. Finally, family risk factors include her 12-year-old son and 5-year-old family conflict, family management prob- lence). Because protective factors also tend to have cumulative effects, youth daughter. The youth witnessed the lems (e.g., failure of caretakers to set abuse but were not physically harmed. clear expectations, lack of supervision, who have or are exposed to a large num- ber of protective factors show greater The officers learn that the husband is and excessively severe punishment), and currently intoxicated and has a history favorable attitudes toward and involve- resilience in coping with the risk factors in their lives than do those with fewer of abusing his wife. ment in crime and violence (for further A typical law enforcement response to discussion of risk factors for delinquency protective factors. such a situation is to apprehend the hus- see Gottfredson and Polakowski, 1995; Although the understanding of risk and band, assess the woman’s need for medi- Howell, 1997; Hawkins et al., 2000). protective factors is increasing, ques- cal attention, and determine the extent tions remain about how police and OJJDP’s longitudinal, prospective re- to which the welfare of the children was search on the causes and correlates of sheriff’s departments can best use this compromised. In cases where officers find information. Law enforcement adminis- delinquency has found that delinquency evidence of child endangerment, Child and violent behavior stem from the accu- trators who want to prevent delinquency Protective Services (CPS) may be asked to may be discouraged by the perceived mulation and interaction of risk factors intervene. CPS may determine that home in the five categories described above practical difficulties of coordinating a conditions pose a significant threat to the prevention program, especially because (Thornberry, Huizinga, and Loeber, 1995; children and take steps to remove them Hawkins et al., 1998). The probability most departments are already very busy from the home. However, this action is just responding to calls for service. Ad- of violence and delinquency increases generally reserved for only the most seri- (sometimes dramatically) with increases ministrators at the Westminster, CA, Po- ous cases. Because of legitimate concerns lice Department considered these issues in the number of risk factors (Office of about the potential negative effects of re- Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preven- when they created the SHIELD program. moving children from the home, many chil- Instead of designing a program in which tion, 1998). For example, a study of 411 dren are left in homes where violence and South London boys found that the per- services are delivered directly by the criminal behavior are common. Police fre- police department, they developed a co- centage of boys convicted for violence quently have few alternatives when family more than doubled in the presence of 1 ordinated mechanism that uses a risk factors exist but CPS determines that multidisciplinary team to identify at-risk risk factor but increased tenfold in the the children’s welfare is not compromised presence of 4 or 5 risk factors (Farrington, youth and connect them to existing ser- to the extent necessary to remove them vices in the community. 1997).