Greensboro College Professor Publishes Research on Juvenile Recidivism

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Offenders emerging from juvenile detention can be helped to re-enter society by college-age student mentors, a Greensboro College professor’s research has found.

“Undergraduate Students as Job Mentors to Support Youth Transitioning from Incarceration,” co-authored by Molly Riddle, assistant professor of education, appears in Vol. 6, No. 2 of the Journal of Prison Education and Re-Entry, examines an Indiana youth mentoring program, Help Offenders Prosper through Employment (HOPE).

The article describes how college-age mentors are paired with juvenile offenders and some of the specific techniques that the mentors use to bond with and help provide offenders the skills they will need when they leave juvenile detention.

It also demonstrates that such interventions can lessen the likelihood that those discharged from juvenile detention will commit additional crimes. Partly because of programs like HOPE, juvenile recidivism in Indiana is about 33%, compared with the national average of 55%.

Riddle holds a B.S. from Indiana University Southeast, an M.Ed. from Indiana Wesleyan University, and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. She joined the college’s faculty in August.

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and six master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features a 17-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.greensboro.edu.

Think critically. Act justly. Live faithfully.

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