How to Reach Troubled Youth
Student to Present Research to Juvenile Justice Committee
"Make sure you get as many pencils back as you hand out,”
is the advice of Egon Jenson, director of the Youth Development
Center (YDC), a co-ed correctional facility for juvenile delinquents
in Manchester, N.H.
Lauren Torch, a senior social work major from Strafford, N.H., knows
that assault, battery, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest are
just a few examples of crimes committed by the youth she chose to
work with.
Needless to say, it was imperative that Torch get back those pencils.
Torch first became interested in troubled youth when her father
invited her to become a representative for the Coalition for Juvenile
Justice when she was just 16. She believes that the coalition led
her to the social work major at UNH and to her research at YDC.
Last fall, as part of an independent study, she accompanied psychologist
Ed Carnigan and psychiatrist R. Joffre Barnett to Manchester with
the intent to launch a study on the emotional and behavioral problems
of youth incarcerated for delinquency.
Her role at YDC was to help Carnigan and Barnett administer self-reports
to delinquent girls. Carnigan and Barnett administered reports to
the delinquent boys. The total survey, when examined later, would
help determine how to better reach young people with criminal records.
Torch was able to participate in this research project thanks to
funding from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP),
and assistance from her UROP sponsor Bob Jolley, associate professor
of social work. This spring, she will analyze the data she compiled
while at YDC.
In her UROP proposal Torch wrote that, “The information [I
collect] will be helpful in providing young people with appropriate,
effective treatment while they are at YDC.” Right now, “the
needs of these kids are not being met because we simply do not know
enough about them, says Torch.”
According to Jolley, because the population Torch is working with
is not “entirely free” she needed approvals from both
UNH and the state before going ahead with her research. “Confidentiality
was a huge issue due to the age group I was working with,”
says Torch.
The results of her study, though it is not yet complete, show trends
of psychotic behavior in the sample youth. “Mental illness
is a significant issue for this population,” says Torch.
In this field, “you look at the client’s strengths rather
than at his or her deficiencies. It is a positive way to go about
treating someone.”
Torch will present her research before the New Hampshire Advisory
Committee on Juvenile Justice as well as the Mental Health and Juvenile
Justice committee this spring.
—Amanda Vormelker ’03