Urban 978-1-59332-213-7


	Edited by Marilyn McShane and Frank P. Williams III

		The Deterrent Effect of Curfews: An Evaluation of Juvenile Probationers
		Lynn S. Urban

			Urban discusses the effectiveness of a court-ordered juvenile curfew enforcement program known as Nightwatch. Her questions include: “Do juveniles who participate in Nightwatch re-offend less?” and “If they do re-offend less, why?” The Nightwatch program operates using sanctions for non-compliance and rewards for compliance, which predicts that juveniles with a high certainty of punishment for curfew violation will have a low incidence of non-compliance and subsequent offending. Results indicate that juveniles participating in Nightwatch recidivated at significantly lower levels than a comparison group, but not for the reasons expected by court officials. Little support was found for deterrence, but participation in Nightwatch reduced time out of the house and was a significant predictor of subsequent offending.

		Lynn Urbanis an assistant professor of criminal justice at Central Missouri State University, where she teaches courses in juvenile justice, criminological theory, and criminal justice administration. She received the National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship, and has published research evaluating Victim/Offender Mediation programs for juvenile offenders.

		viii, 204 pages. Index, bibliography. ISBN 978-1-59332-213-7 (casebound). $62. Published 2007.