MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION’S

PROJECT AWARE PROGRAM

OVERVIEW

The Mississippi Department of Correction’s Project Aware Program is a non-confrontational, prisoner-run juvenile delinquency deterrence program.  In a random assignment study, juvenile delinquent males assigned to receive the Project Aware Program were compared with juvenile delinquent males assigned to receive no intervention.  During the year after program implementation, subjects assigned to receive the Project Aware intervention were significantly less likely to drop out of school than were subjects assigned to the control group.  Treatment subjects did not differ significantly from control subjects with regard to frequency of criminal offenses, severity of criminal offenses, or number of unexcused absences from school, however.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: juvenile delinquents

The Mississippi Department of Correction’s Project Aware Program is a prisoner-run juvenile delinquency deterrence program.  Project Aware is non-confrontational and does not employ scare tactics.  Prisoners meet with juvenile delinquents for five hours at the Mississippi State Penitentiary and educate them about the consequences of a life of delinquency.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Cook, D. D. & Spirrison, C. L.  (1992).  Effects of a Prisoner-Operated Delinquency Deterrence Program: Mississippi’s Project Aware.  Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 17(314), 89-99.

Evaluated population: 176 juvenile delinquent males served as the study sample for this investigation.  These males were randomly selected from the files of various county youth courts across the state of Mississippi in the early 1990s.  Subjects were between the ages of 12 and 17, with an average age of 15.  64% of subjects were black and 36% were white.

Approach: Juvenile delinquent males were randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group.  Subjects assigned to the treatment group were exposed to a five-hour, prisoner-run Project Aware session at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.  Subjects assigned to the control group were not exposed to the program.  This educational intervention intentionally employs no confrontation, intimidation, or scare tactics. 

The research team retrieved data from subjects’ criminal and school records.  Name and number of criminal offenses committed during the year leading up to the Project Aware Program were recorded as were number of absences from school during that time period.  Subjects in the treatment group did not differ significantly from subjects in the control group on any of these measures.

During the year after implementation of the Project Aware Program, criminal offenses and absences from school were again recorded.

Results: During the year after program implementation, subjects assigned to receive the Project Aware intervention were significantly less likely to drop out of school than were subjects assigned to the control group.  Treatment subjects did not differ significantly from control subjects with regard to frequency of criminal offenses, severity of criminal offenses, or number of unexcused absences from school, however.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References:

Cook, D. D. & Spirrison, C. L.  (1992).  Effects of a Prisoner-Operated Delinquency Deterrence Program: Mississippi’s Project Aware.  Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 17(314), 89-99.

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 12-17         

Program age ranges in the guide: Adolescence, Youth

Program components: Clinic/Provider Based or Miscellaneous

Measured outcomes: Behavioral Problems

Program information last updated on 9/19/07

© Child Trends 2003