Texas Youth Commission Notes, Fall 1987 Page: 5
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Youth who recidivate
reaches 39%In 1986 the Research and
Planning Department completed
the first comprehensive analysis on
recidivism of youth from the Texas
Youth Commission in the report,
"Review of Recidivism Rates and
Predictors for Juveniles Released
from the Texas Youth Commission."
Prior to 1986, TYC has used
various definitions of recidivism.
The report reviewed various
methods to compute recidivism as
well as established for TYC a
standard definition used by most
correctional agencies. In the report
the recidivism statistics reflect "the
percent of individuals released onto
parole or discharged from the
agency, who within three years,
were reincarcerated due to parole
revocation, recommitment to TYC,
or commitment to an adult prison
facility."
The 1986 report reviewed the
youth released during 1982 and
indicated that after three years,
36% of former TYC students
recidivated. Following the three
year period of release, 14% were
revoked to TYC; 2% were
recommitted to TYC; and 21% had
been admitted to the Texas
Department of Corrections (the
total does not equal the sum due to
rounding.)Other important findings of
the report were: 1) 31% of former
TYC students were admitted to the
Texas Department of Corrections
(TDC) prior to the age of 21; 9%
were admitted for violent crimes; 2)
half of these admissions to TDC
were for burglary; approximately
60% of these TDC admissions for
violent crimes were for robbery or
aggravated robbery; 3) the eight
groups of students who, prior to
reaching age 21, were most likely to
be admitted to TDC, admitted to
TDC for violent crimes, admitted to
TDC with long-sentence length, and
arrested for violent crimes after
their last release from the Youth
Commission were: males, repeat
offenders, blacks, students from
particular counties, other than
violators of CINS probation,
students released from training
schools, students whose age at their
last release at TYC was 16 or over,
and students committed from large
counties; 4) repeat offenders to
TYC were much more likely to be
committed to TDC (52%) than were
any classification group (e.g.,
nonviolent offenders 35%, violent
offenders 28%) and were at least as
likely to be committed for violent
crimes (17% vs. 13% for violent
offenders and 9% for nonviolent
offenders).In October, Research &
Planning reviewed the youth who
had been released between July 1,
1983 and June 1984, tracking them
for three years after their release.
The study found that the recidivism
from this group of released youth
had increased to 39%. Of that total
14% had been revoked to TYC; 2%
had been recommitted to TYC; and
23% were eventually admitted to
TDC.
The recent review compared
recidivism between youth released
from various Youth Commission
programs. Rates indicated that
42% of youth recidivated from
training schools; 27% recidivated
after release from contract care;
and 25% recidivated following
release from a halfway house.
Dr. Chuck Jeffords, Director
of Research and Planning, noted
that "this does not necessarily mean
that community programs are more
effective than training schools,
because training schools have the
handicap of starting off with higher
risk youth."5
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Texas Youth Commission. Texas Youth Commission Notes, Fall 1987, periodical, Autumn 1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1624000/m1/5/?rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.