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|
Percent
of Youth in Each Treatment Category
Who Received Specialized Treatment Prior to Release During Fiscal Year 1999 |
|
Treatment
Category
|
Percent
Receiving Treatment
|
Capital and Serious Violent Offenders |
45%
|
Sex Offenders |
34%
|
Chemically Dependent Youth |
38%
|
Emotionally Disturbed Youth |
34%
|
The Giddings State School operates
a Capital and Serious Violent Offender Treatment Program for youth that
are committed for murder, capital murder, and if the offense involved
the use of a weapon or deadly force. The program helps these young people
connect feelings associated with their violent behavior and identify risky
situations for re-offense with alternative ways to respond. Youth are
required to reenact their crimes and play the role of both perpetrator
and victim.
The Giddings Capital and Serious Violent Offender Program has gained worldwide
attention and been featured on several national news programs. It is one
of TYCs most promising specialized treatment programs. Research
shows that participation in this program reduces by 53 percent the likelihood
of being rearrested for a violent offense within a year of release.
Specialized treatment for sex
offenders is provided at three TYC institutions and by specialized contract
providers. The sex offender treatment program (SOTP) builds on the agency's
Resocialization program using cognitive-behavioral strategies and a relapse
prevention component.
Youth in the program receive additional individual and group counseling
interventions that focus on the youth's deviant sexuality, in particular,
on deviant arousal patterns and deviant sexual fantasies, which contribute
to the youth's sexual abusiveness.
Additional program components include psychosexual education and, for
those with histories of abuse, trauma resolution therapies. The latest
research shows that only one of 257 (0.4%) sex offenders receiving sex
offender treatment was rearrested for a violent sex offense within one
year of release.
Chemical dependency treatment
programs are offered at Giddings State School, Gainesville State School,
Crockett State School, San Saba State School, Al Price State Juvenile
Correctional Facility (formerly Jefferson County State School) in Beaumont;
Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg; and McFadden Ranch in Roanoke.
Additional chemical dependency services are provided by contract care
programs throughout the state.
Program components include chemical dependency education, group and individual
counseling, and living and social skills training. Youth examine their
life stories, offense histories, and relapse cycles. The criminal behavior
is addressed through linking the use of drugs to the youths life
story and offense.
Research shows that chemical dependency treatment at McFadden Ranch, a
non-secure facility, was found to reduce the likelihood of rearrest for
a violent offense within one year by 38%, rearrest for any offense within
one year by 40%, and reincarceration for any offense within one year by
18%.
The number of youth committed to TYC with severe emotional problems has increased greatly in recent years. The severity of these problems has also increased.
Youth who are diagnosed with severe emotional and/or mental illnesses may receive specialized treatment at Corsicana Residential Treatment Center and at Crockett State School. Those with unstable mental illnesses who are also dangerous to themselves or others receive care at the Corsicana Stabilization Unit.
The immediate goal for this group is treating the basic emotional or mental illness and allowing the youth to regain control over their behavior. When this is accomplished, the youth is ready to benefit from treatment that focuses on changing the delinquent and criminal patterns of behavior. The final goal concerns reintegrating the youth with his/her family and community in a program that addresses the emotional and correctional therapy needs of the youth.
Youth with emotional disturbances
pose a particularly difficult problem for TYC, yet the specialized treatment
is showing promise. Research showed that specialized treatment in a secure
restriction program reduced by 9 percent the likelihood of reincarceration
for any offense within one year.
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Texas Youth Commission
4900 N. Lamar Blvd. · Austin, TX 78751
P.O. Box 4260 · Austin, TX 78765
(512)
424-6130
Last Updated:
October 5, 2001 | Date Archived: June 10, 2002
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Policy · E-mail comments to: tyc@tyc.state.tx.us