"January 2002"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-77).

Introduction -- Background: Program Need and Program Design -- Description of the Program -- Hypothesis Testing -- Hypothesis Testing Results -- Six-Month, Twelve-Month, and Eighteen-Month Follow-Ups -- Process Evaluation Activities and Findings -- Conclusion -- Recommendations -- Appendix: South Oxnard Challenge Project Risk Assessment.

RAND Criminal Justice conducted a randomized experimental evaluation of the South Oxnard Challenge Project (SOCP), a collaborative project between county, city and private non-profit agencies based on the "Corrections of Place" (COP) model. The project targets youth who live in South Oxnard or Port Hueneme, are between 12 and 18 years old, have a citation or violation of probation, and score at least 12 points on a risk assessment instrument. Although SOCP staff had more contacts with youth and offered more services to youth and families, SOCP and comparison youth showed similar outcomes on alcohol and drug use, restitution payments, community service, school, and recidivism. Approximately half of study youth had no new arrests leading to a referral. SOCP and comparison youth were similar during the intervention in terms of the percent of referrals/arrests, sustained petitions/convictions (adult), and juvenile and adult commitments.

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