Search

The article discusses a study exploring the criminal behavior of homeless young people and examining the correlates of arrest activity among homeless young adults disparate regions of U.S. Results showed that 42.6 percent of study population reported severe arrest activity and that the overall mediation effect from length of time homeless to arrest activity accounted for 11 percent of the total effect from length of time homeless to arrest activity. The study also demonstrated that young adults who were homeless for a longer time were highly involved in criminal behavior, than those who were homeless for shorter durations.

Homeless, street-dwelling youths are an at-risk population who often use survival behaviors to meet their basic needs. The traditional outreach approach brings services into the streets, yet does not adequately replace the youths' high-risk behaviors. Similarly, job training programs often fail to address the mental health issues that constitute barriers to their productive employment. Drawing on social development principles, the Social Enterprise Intervention (SEI) model is proposed as an alternative approach. The SEI seeks the tripartite effect of employment, service-related, and mental health outcomes for street youths. This article compares existing intervention models and suggests that through the SEI, homeless youths can acquire vocational and business skills, clinical mentorship, and linkages to services that otherwise would not be available to them, given their street-dwelling status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]