After decades of work with incarcerated youth around the world, I tend to classify religious outreaches into three different genres: conversion-based, worship-focused, and faith-education programs. Some of these programs are fear-based (eternal damnation), while others focus on the incentives of living a faithful life (healthier relationships, a life of meaning, service and salvation).
Measuring the relative success of these programs depends, of course, on the results you want to quantify. Will you measure success by the numbers of young people converted during a given period of time or the number of youth who don’t re-offend or who go on to become lifelong disciples of Christ?
Almost every detention center and jail has groups that come in on Sunday mornings to lead worship and make an altar call. These result in “jailhouse conversions” that are easily won and readily measured. However, they often are detrimental as young people learn that adopting a new spiritual identity does not automatically mean life choices become easy.
We must remember they were not thinking and operating as adults when their first faulty decisions landed them in detention or jail. Though capable of committing horrific crimes, juvenile brain development is vastly different from that of an adult’s, making children and teens less able to control impulses.
According to the New York Times, the Human Rights Watch reported 2,380 people in America are serving life sentences for crimes committed prior to their 18th birthday. Such sentencing for juveniles is against international law—a practice banned in most other countries.
Furthermore, according to some statistics, the financial burden of maintaining the U.S. prison system this year alone will cost about $40 billion—more than what is spent on our universities. Said another way, state spending is $5,500 per year to educate a youth, but $20,000 to lock up one inmate.
According to a 1999 Youth Advocate Program International Report, the U.S. juvenile justice system seems to favor incarceration and punishment over rehabilitation and treatment. However, many children suffer from underlying causes—such as mental disorders; histories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse; parents’ addictions; and/or learning disabilities. Without treatment, they will not become productive, law-abiding citizens.
Yet, while church groups, ministries and other non-profits seek to make a difference, another difficulty is that while some are committed to going out to detention centers, not a lot of churches actually want adjudicated youth to come in to their sanctuaries. Discipling incarcerated youth is tough work. The twin goals of lowering recidivism rates and nurturing community around a disenfranchised young person is more difficult to measure statistically and impossible to quantify in the short term. Yet, as Christians, we know “all things are possible to him who believes” (
Deep and Wide: Factors to Consider
The problems many incarcerated young people face are rarely singular in nature or isolated in cause. Therefore, our response must be “deep and wide.” A Christ-centered, discipleship-focused program should consider a number of factors.
For one, it’s a long-term process. Also, incarcerated minors frequently have a “cluster” of problems, including addictions and compulsive behaviors. They often are isolated in failing systems including family, education, medical, social services, legal AND religious. These children are not “failing our systems”; our systems are failing them.
Human beings are “hardwired” for community. A young person without a caring adult community will seek unhealthy relationships to compensate for his or her isolation.
An incarcerated young person—because of the “cluster” of overwhelming issues—requires new coping skills for already stressful lives. This must include the opportunity to turn those new skills into practiced habits prior to release.
Because the problems faced by incarcerated youth are multi-faceted, the responses must be multi-disciplined. For those wishing to work with incarcerated youth, they must become a part of the “Care Team” that includes parent(s), counselors and juvenile authorities. This only can be accomplished by building the trust and respect of these other parties over time.
Consistency and Dignity: Critical Components for Achieving Success
Successful long-term outreaches to high-risk youth demand two critical components: consistency and unconditional dignity. When I ask young people, “How do you want me to treat you?” their number-one response is, “With respect.” When I probe further and ask, “What is respect to you?” they answer, “Just show up. If you say you’re going to show up—then just show up.”
A consistent relationship with a community of caring adults is the primary gap in our young people’s lives today and especially with adults who aren’t paid to be there. Frequently, the second or third time an adult volunteer shows up, a young person will say, “Why are you here? You’re not paid to come.”
Youth ministry professionals must understand the importance of creating bridges between caring adults in our churches and those whom Jesus would call the least accepted (micros) and the most rejected (elachistos).
Today’s children are being raised in a culture that does not understand the difference between performance-based approval and the unconditional love of God. Performance-based approval is a form of manipulation. If you do this, then you will be loved. Alternatively, unconditional dignity rests upon this premise: No matter how you act, I will seek your dignity, my dignity and dignity for the community around us.
Effective, discipleship-based outreaches to incarcerated youth must be consistent, communal and based on unconditional dignity. We need to pray for the courage to understand there are no quick fixes for a life complicated by myriad issues. These young people suffer in a system, and often from the system, but we must work within the system to help them. By focusing on reliability, creating community and modeling unconditional dignity, we will become “repairer(s) of the breach and restorer(s) of streets in which to dwell” (
Slipping Through Our Fingers
The average age of onset for high-risk behaviors tends to be between the ages 10 and 12. The five most identifiable traits are: 1) changes in attire as young people “try on” different identities; 2) changes in peer groups and displaying anti-social behavior toward other students outside their peer group, as well as with authority figures; 3) radical mood swings that seem hard for the young person to control; 4) the use of harmful substances (tobacco) and/or displaying harmful behaviors (cutting); and 5) shifts in grades and/or truancy.
The sooner these behaviors are identified and assistance is provided, the better. Effective prevention and intervention strategies involve engaging a healthy adult community—not just a single mentor—with these kids. The sooner the community—teachers, counselors, parent or parents, pastor, coaches—comes around each young person, the more likely further risk will be prevented.
