The role of alternate and individualized education in the reduction of juvenile recidivism

The incarceration of young people across the globe continues to rise. This issue not only affects the young people being incarcerated, but their families, communities and the work force in general (Skipworth, 2019). The cost of this incarceration is not only felt by the young person and their families but also the taxpayer with the incarceration of a young person shown to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually (Baldry, 2008).

In order to explore ways to reduce the number of young people in Australia being incarcerated, I applied for and was successful in gaining a Markoff fellowship through the ISSI and proposed to visit the USA to explore some of the positive and negative ways in which they are dealing with the issue of juvenile incarceration and recidivism and the role education and other programs play in reducing this phenomenon.

I approached this fellowship coming from three unique viewpoints that placed me in a position to make direct and explicit change, whilst understanding the issue in a way unique to many. Each of these positions has allowed me to approach the fellowship with the ability to enquire, participate and experience things with change at the forefront of thinking and action.