This document provides guidance for mentors working with youth in the juvenile justice system. It emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships through effective communication, trust, interpersonal skills, commitment and a positive attitude. Mentors are advised to understand adolescent development and ask questions to learn about a youth's goals, relationships and behavior. Program policies should support mentor-mentee bonding and provide inoculation to prevent mentor burnout. Monitoring progress and collecting evidence of outcomes is important to evaluate a program's effectiveness.

1. Mentoring Youth in the
Juvenile Justice System
October 30, 2012
Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota
Copyright © 2012
American Institutes G. Roger Jarjoura, Principal Researcher
for Research.
All rights reserved.

2. Consider the Following
Scenario
A mentor and mentee are hanging
out. The mentee says: “I didn’t feel
like going to work yesterday, so I
called in and said I was sick.”
2

3. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
That reminds me of a time that I
called in sick so that I could go to
the beach with my college friends.
It was a nice day and we picked up
some beer along the way and had
a great time!
3

4. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
I understand. If I was only making
$7.50 an hour, I would call in sick
too if I didn’t feel like working.
4

5. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
You are kidding. That was very
irresponsible of you! You will not hold
onto that job for very long playing those
kinds of games.
5

6. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
What do you think that was like for your
boss and the rest of the staff? Have you
been at work when someone else called
in sick? What was that like? If your
boss gets used to not having you
around, how do you think this might
affect you? Is there some other way you
could have handled not wanting to go to
work?
6

7. 7

8. Let’s Consider Mentoring in
Context
8

9. Keep in Mind…
• Mentoring is about
 Investing in relationship
 Choices
 Modeling behavior
• Mentoring is about giving, but we
can’t take it personally
9

10. Mentoring
• From the research we know that
mentoring is an effective intervention
for:
 Predelinquents
 Delinquents
 Juvenile offenders returning from
incarceration
• When it is done correctly, it is a “Best
Practice.”
10

11. Mentoring Programs
Can inspire and guide people to
pursue successful and productive
futures, reaching their potential
through positive relationships and
utilization of community resources
11

12. Mentoring Can be Transformative
• If mentors are properly “prepared”, they
can influence the youth in meaningful and
significant ways
• We may not see immediate short-term
changes, but long-term personal growth
has a lot to do with the adults in their
lives
12

13. Start with a big vision for the
ultimate outcome—
Productively engaged adult
citizens
13

14. Don’t aim too low
• Imagine the son of your favorite
sister has landed in either the
juvenile justice system or the foster
care system—what would you like
to see for him in terms of the kinds
of support that could be available?
• Should the kids we serve be
different in terms of our
expectations?
14

15. Employers Would Like…
• Communication skills—verbal and
written
• Honesty/integrity
• Teamwork skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Strong work ethic
How can you have influence here?
15

16. If you believe that it takes a village…
• At the end of the time that the youth
are involved in your program, what do
you want to be able to have in place
for the youth?
16

17. When the Supportive Adults are
Lacking…
 Look for ways to introduce the supportive
adults in the new environments that youth are
entering (such as college or trade schools)
 The goal is to increase the likelihood of
success for the youth in those new settings
 Think about the kinds of support that are
available to middle-class youth and how
important those are
- Then try and substitute your own forms of
support and pay attention to how it is
working
17

18. How does the Mentor Fit In?
• Do you equip your mentors?
• Can you set the structure of the
program so that the mentors know to
seek out resources?
• A Key Skill for the Youth: Accessing
Resources
• Another Key Skill: Asking for Help
18

19. About Those Needs…
• Education
• Employment
• Family Relationships
• Financial Management/Literacy
• Health/Mental Health
• Housing
• Transportation
• Prosocial Use of Leisure Time
• Peer Relationships
19

20. Model for Youth Mentoring
(Rhodes, 2002)
Youth
Engagement
Socio-Emotional
Mentoring Development Positive Outcomes
Identity
Development
20

21. Let’s Consider:
• What policies/practices related to your
program (or in the programs that you
support) interfere with OR limit OR (better
yet!) enhance the accomplishment of
preparing the youth for their long-term
success?
• What might you do about this?
21

22. Understand adolescent
development and how your
program fits in to the process
22

23. This Means Focusing on Each:
• Competency
• Life skills
• Positive development—Strengths-
based
• Interpersonal skills (emotional
intelligence)
• Accountability
• Decision making and problem solving
23

24. Normal Adolescent
Development
• Impulsivity declines with age
• Sensation-seeking declines with age
• Future orientation increases with age
• As people age, they spend more time
thinking before they act
• Resistance to peer pressure increases
with age
24
Based on scholarship of Griffin (2010), Northwestern University Law School

25. Consider:
25 From: Gardner and Steinberg (2005) “Peer Influence on Risk Taking, Risk Preference, and Risky Decision Making in
Adolescence and Adulthood: An Experimental Study” Developmental Psychology

26. When Kids Experience Trauma
during Childhood
• They experience delays in developmental
milestones
• Have higher rates of learning disabilities
• Experience difficulties with problem
solving
• Are more impulsive and engage in
problem behaviors at higher rates
• Struggle with interpersonal relationships
and emotional intelligence
26

27. Make Sure
• You are preparing your mentors to
understand
• Give mentors the tools to meet kids
where they are at
• Is your program developmentally
appropriate?
27

28. It is all about Relationships
and Contexts (and Time)
28

29. Choices about Dysfunctional
spending Problems in
Family
leisure time School
Consider the risk factors
Low self- that contribute to the Challenges
esteem around work
likelihood that the youths
are going to be delinquent
Low academic Negative
achievement Peers
Disadvantaged Drugs and
neighborhoods Alcohol
29

30. The
The relationship
relationship The
The they have with
the kids have relationship
relationship money
with their they have with
they have with
families their teachers
their free time
These can all be reframed
The in terms of dysfunctional The relationship
relationship they have with
they have with relationships
work
themselves
The
The The relationship
The relationship
relationship relationship they have with
they have with
they have with they have their peers
the community
learning with drugs
and alcohol
30

31. Relationships are Critical
• At all levels:
 Between the program and the juvenile justice
system
 Between the program and the greater
community
 Between the program and the mentors
 Between the program and the youth
 Between the mentors and the youth
31

32. Most program Challenges can be
attributed (and thus, fixed) to
under-nurtured or non-existent
relationships
32

33. Context is Typically Underestimated
• NJDA’s vision statement reads:
 The most efficient way to return a juvenile to
a healthy, law abiding lifestyle is through
healthy relationships with healthy adults in
healthy environments.
33

34. Time: A Numbers Game
• Think about the number of hours there
are in a week
• How much of that time will a youth
spend in the “company” of a mentor?
• How is the remaining time being
spent?
34

35. The Mentor-Mentee Relationship is
So Critical…
Let’s consider what an effective relationship
might look like:
35

36. Communication Skills
• Expressing self clearly and coherently,
both verbally and nonverbally
• Listen and learn how the youth feels
• Not responding in a hostile, sarcastic, or
anxious manner
• Observe the youth’s subtle, nonverbal
messages in a very careful manner
36

37. Trust
• Be non-judgmental
• Allow youth to talk about his/her past in
his/her own time
• Respect the youth’s confidences as long
as they do not affect the health and
welfare of the youth and others
• Relating to the youth and understanding
feeling without condescension and
emotional involvement
• Don’t obsess about the “truth”
37

38. Interpersonal Skills
• recognizes and accepts the diversity of
others
• gives appropriate advice
• flexible and adaptable to new
situations
• able to suggest but not dictate
38

39. Other Interpersonal Skills
• prepared for disappointments and
setbacks
AND
• uses disappointments and setbacks to
enhance relationship with youth
39

40. Other Interpersonal Skills
• aware of the youth’s ability to
manipulate
• a good sense of humor
• patient
40

41. Commitment
• Mentor should recognize and accept
responsibility for time and personal
obligations to the youth
• Accept the youth’s right to make
suitable or unsuitable (not illegal)
decisions
• Know the facts about situations before
forming any conclusions
41

42. Be Positive
• Offer frequent expressions of direct
confidence
• Be encouraging even when talking
about potentially troublesome topics
• Offer concrete assistance
42

43. Train Your Mentors to Ask
Questions Effectively
• Asking specific questions can convince
youth that a person is qualified to be a
mentor
 If the youth wants help with their future, the
mentor should ask questions about their
plans/desires related to work or school
• Open-ended questions are great—
behavioral questions are better
43

44. An Example:
• Rate yourself as a student on a
scale of 1-10. (1 would mean you
were a total failure and 10 would
mean you were outstanding). Tell
me why you rated yourself this way.
• What would it take for you to
become a 10?
44

45. • How would you describe a good
worker? Be specific.
• Tell me about the ways you were a
good worker at your jobs. Be
specific.
• In what ways were you not a good
worker? Give examples.
45

46. • Tell me about the last three times
you had money in your pocket.
How much did you have? Where
did the money come from? How did
you spend the money?
46

47. • Rate your relationship with your
mother on a scale of 1-10. 1 means
there is no relationship and 10
means the relationship is perfect.
Tell me why you rated it like this.
Give me some examples.
• What would it take to make your
relationship with your mother a 10?
Be specific.
47

48. 48

49. Consider:
• What policies/practices related to your
program (or in the programs that you
support) interfere with OR limit OR (better
yet!) enhance the accomplishment of
building mentor-mentee relationships?
• What might you do about this?
49

50. Find the right mentors
(or at least get them
right)
50

51. 51

52. Mentoring Can Be Challenging
• youth doesn’t return phone calls
• youth doesn’t show up for meetings
• youth is rude and hostile towards the mentor
• youth doesn’t talk to mentor
• youth is sexually promiscuous
• youth breaks the law
• youth shows up high or intoxicated
• mentor doesn’t know what to do with youth
• mentor feels overwhelmed by the youth’s problems
• mentor doesn’t agree with the youth’s values
• mentor is frustrated by lack of impact on youth
52

53. 53

54. Effective Programs
• focus their efforts on tapping into the
internal motivation of mentors by
 helping them become more competent
 assessing the relevance of their work
 building their sense of belonging to a
worthwhile effort
54

55. Inoculation of Your Mentors
55

56. Things like:
• System-involved youth have been let
down by adults many times. They are
likely to keep the mentors at arms length
for some period of time until the mentor
“passes the test.”
• This is a transient population and the
youths may change residences, have
their phone numbers disconnected or
changed, or may spend very little time at
home making it difficult to catch them.
56

57. And…
 Many adults have a hard time with the
progress that these youth demonstrate—it is
often very slow and can involve several
missteps and relapses along the way.
 The strongest mentor-mentee relationships
grow out of crises and conflicts—yet mentors
will be inclined to avoid the youth while they
are dealing with conflict and crises.
 There are many potentially upsetting
elements to working with this population.
Mentors need to learn to look for support and
not look for the way out of the program.
57

58. 58

59. Expectations
• In any crisis—big or small—mentors
need to know not only who to call and
their phone number, but also that they
are expected to call
• Without accountability, time together can
easily slip into simply “hanging out”
• Key issues:
 Maintaining contact with mentees
 What happens when kids get into trouble or are
moved without notice?
 Make sure mentors have comprehensive contact
information and plans to be in touch!
59

60. Monitor the Progress
60

61. Evidence
• Is important on a number of different
levels
• How can you build the case that what
you are doing is working?
 Compile “Good Stories”
• How can you determine IF what you are
doing is working?
• Is there evidence that the outcomes are
better for the youth? Is it the result of
your new strategy?
61

62. 62

63. This is about things like…
• Are you “impeccable” and thoughtful
with your words?
• Are you more likely to ask questions or
to lecture?
• Do youth believe that you LISTEN to
them? Are they correct?
• What do youth learn by watching your
behavior?
• Would you say you are “Mentor-like”?
63