1 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

YOUTH AUTHORI1Y TREATMENT NEEDS ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION
This needs assessment was'under>~en in conjunction'with theFacilities~Plannirig DiVision
for use-in developing ·the 'Youth- Authority's Population ·Management ·and.Facilities~Master
Plan in order to determine the number of offenders needing special programs: Intensive
Treatment Programs, Specialized Counseling Programs, Dyssocial/ Aggressive Programs,
and Formalized Substance Abuse Programs.
A committee was formed with representatives from the Institutions and Camps Branch, the
Northern Reception Center-Clirlic, and the Research Division to determine the questions
to be answered and which test instruments _ would best answer these questions.
instruments were selected, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and
the Jesness Inventory. Brief descriptions of these instruments are given in Appendices F
and G. Additional data were obtained from the Youth Authority Ward Profile, developed
to be used solely for this project, and the Offender Based Information Tracking System
(OBITS) which the Department uses to store offender data.
The committee determined that a tv/o-month pool of male offenders entering the two
clinics, the Northern Reception Center-Clinic and the Southern Reception Center-Clinic,
would provide a representative sample of incoming offenders.
Two
(Males on Temporary
Detention and those undergoing testing for county courts were not included.) However,
there were too few females admitted to the Youth Authority (Y A) each month to be used
as a representative sample of incoming offenders. Rather than test all incoming females in
a year, the committee decided to test all of the females currently in the Y A's institution for
females, the Ventura Scbool, to determine their program needs.
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