The Every Child Has Options (ECHO) program aims to prevent at-risk youth from entering the juvenile justice system. The program is run by incarcerated teens in juvenile detention centers who want to help others avoid criminal activity. ECHO connects with troubled youth through assemblies led by the incarcerated teens, who share their experiences and help the youth develop healthy decision-making skills. At-risk youth then enter a continuation program tailored to their individual needs to further promote positive behavior change. The goal of ECHO is to give youth alternatives to criminal behavior by building relationships and confidence.

1. Every Child Has Options
Elizabeth Kaman
Crime Prevention – Unit 9 Final
November 19, 2013ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

2.  Juveniles locked up in detention centers all across the country are coming
together. They formed an alliance – to keep troubled kids out of the juvenile
justice system.
 Provides at-risk kids with positive and consistent peer contact to promote
healthy development and positive decision making by giving each child options.
 Organized by juveniles who chose not to make the right choices, these
incarcerated teens are helping other’s see that they have the ability to make a
difference before it’s too late.
 The most successful programs are those that prevent kids from engaging in
criminal activity in the first place.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

3. Mission
The Mission of the Every Child Has
Options (E C H O) program is to
connect with at risk youths before
they become part of the juvenile
justice system. Conducted by kids
already incarcerated in a juvenile
detention facility.
Vision
The vision these kids has is clear;
they want to reach other kids before
they engage in criminal activity and
let them know their lives have
meaning – that they are important
and can accomplish anything. They
don’t want to end up behind bars.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

4.  20% of all children are
considered delinquent at some
point during their adolescence.
 A large number of kids are
pressured into delinquency due
to some type of social
disadvantage.
 Doing poorly in academics is
also another large contributor to
juvenile delinquency (tjjd.gov,
2013).
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment
Delinquency
Bad
Company
Inner
Conflicts
Need for
Adventure
No
Interest in
School
No
Physical
Activity
Street Life

5.  There are many reasons for needing to prevent juveniles from
becoming delinquents. One of the most recognized concerns is that
criminal activity puts these kids at an elevated risk for drug and alcohol
abuse, dropping out of school, injuring themselves or others, early
pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, or even incarceration at an
early age.
 Most adult criminals started their illegal activities when they were
adolescents (tjjd.gov, 2013).
 Saving kids from early criminal habits, saves them from a wasted, non-
productive life.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

6.  Behavior change through cordial interaction,
role modeling, and by role-playing positive,
new behaviors with other teens who they can
relate to.
 Addresses current issues the high risk teen is
currently experiencing in his/her life. Real
life problems.
 Building trusting relationships for more
effective behavior change.
 Making the out of control kid understand
that you have also been where they are now –
letting them know, “You Don’t Want to
Come Here”! (Gingrich, P., 2011).ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

7.  Assemblies are set up at specified
juvenile detention centers that are
run by the incarcerated children;
average age 16 years, known as The
First Team.
 After successfully completing their
course with The First Team, the
high-risk kids are then placed in a
continuation program run by
volunteers, according to their
specific needs.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

8.  Two weeks will be spent with the ECHO First Team,
interacting individually and in groups with the troubled
teens, focusing on real-life events, attitude, behavior,
choices and what life is really like once you get convicted
of a crime as a juvenile. The continuation program
follows:
 Individual and/or Family Counseling
 Aggression Replacement Training
 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment
 Education and Truancy Interventions
 Mentoring – Personal or Academic Levels
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

9.  Children learn what they live.
 If a child is having issues at home, or at
school and have no one to confide in, this
program can give them the opportunity to
express their feelings and concerns with
kids their own age who they feel
understand what they’re going through.
They will feel safe.
 They will gain the confidence to enable
them to make sound, reasonable decisions
that will help them succeed as an adult.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

10. ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment
D.A.R.E GREAT
Scared
Straight

11.  The DARE program, founded in 1983, has been
found to be ineffective in keeping kids off drugs.
 The program has not shown to prevent drug use in
elementary, middle or even high school students.
 DARE has actually been associated with elevated
drug use.
 Kids who have graduated from the program show
no long-term knowledge or memory of the
program.
 DARE gives parents a false sense of security about
their children and drugs (procon.org, 2013).
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

12.  GREAT is the only program specifically
designated to reduce gang activity that has been
boldly evaluated.
 The assessments showed only very slight positive
results associated with gang membership,
delinquency, thrill seeking teens, and attitudes
about law enforcement.
 An issue regarding gathering statistics on this
program is that most of the research involves
minors and requires obtaining consent for the
child’s participation (ncjrs.gov, 2002).
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

13.  Inmates who participate in this program are often very
aggressive and rely on fear and intimidation to frighten
the troubled kids – to keep them in line.
 Results show that not only is this program ineffective, it
confirms that kids who go through this program are at
greater risk for committing crimes in the future
(crimesolutions.gov, 2013).
 Basically, kids can’t usually be scared or intimidated
that way. Not by an adult. Teenagers know everything.
They need to hear the facts from someone their own
age, someone who they can really relate to.
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

14.  Preventing juvenile crime has become a world-
wide concern. Children need a more stable,
structured environment (tjjd.gov, 2013).
 E C H O will provide troubled kids with a
trusted support system for all of their physical,
mental, and educational needs.
 Putting children in prison is not the answer.
Giving kids a purpose and building their self-
confidence is the only solution to this growing
epidemic.
 After all, aren’t they worth it!
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment

15. References
Crime Solutions (2013). Juvenile Awareness Programs. Retrieved from
http://www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=4
Gingrich, P. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3lw6PMjj40
Procon.org (2013). Is The DARE Program Good for America’s Kids (K-12)? Retrieved from
http://dare.procon.org
Texas Juvenile Justice Department (2013). Delinquency Prevention in Texas. Retrieved from
http://www.tjjd.texas.gov/aboutus/agency_mission.aspx
U.S. Department of Justice (2002). Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research. Retrieved
from https://www.mcjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/190351.pdf
ElizabethKaman_Unit9_FinalAssignment