In the early 2000s, Rhode Island began work to reduce its use of secure confinement for youth involved with the justice system and refocus its juvenile justice system on prevention, early intervention, and community-based resources and engaging families. The statewide reforms have changed the referral and reimbursement processes for service providers, including the state's residential treatment programs.
One such program, Ocean Tides, Inc., is a nonsecure residential rehabilitation program and school for adjudicated boys.
This study uses data from administrative records and case files collected from Ocean Tides over a 40-year period to examine changes initiated as a result of statewide reforms, trends in service delivery, and behavior and outcomes among participating youth.
This project was funded under the Assessing the Impact of Juvenile Justice Reforms Program, which supported research and evaluations to investigate whether certain juvenile justice policies and practices produce better outcomes for youth, improve public safety, and/or achieve a greater return on taxpayer investments.