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On June 2, 2000, the Los Angeles County Probation Department entered into a settlement agreement with the Black Probation Officers Association in response to a civil suit. As part of the settlement, the Department was required to allocate resources internally based on the administration of a risk and needs instrument to its juvenile probationers. The parties agreed to stipulate the RAND Corporation as the evaluator of this instrument. The RAND Corporation was asked by the Los Angeles County Probation Department to provide assistance in the validation of a risk/needs assessment and Strength-Based Assessment Instrument to be used to objectively measure the risk and needs of minors in Los Angeles County referred to the Probation Department. RAND surveyed existing instruments, recommended several for validation, and conducted a pilot validation assessment of the chosen San Diego Risk and Resiliency Checkup instrument. The study methodology targeted 1200 youths for assessments using the SDRRC. Assessments were conducted by trained Deputy Probation Officers in four area offices across the county. Follow-up information gathered on youth arrests was used to determine whether the SDRRC was a valid predictor of recidivism in Los Angeles. Their analyses showed that the SDRRC was a valid instrument. The instrument and its subscales were significantly related to arrest for youths 12 months after their assessment. The scale was also significantly related to recidivism for major subgroups of interest: youths of different ethnicities as well as males and females. In analyses which took into account other factors related to recidivism, the SDRRC remained a significant predictor of subsequent arrest. However, the scale does seem to work differently for some youths. For Hispanic youths, in particular, the scale is not as strong a predictor as for other youths. Some scale domains are not consistently predictive for major race/ethnic groups. For black youths, family risk factors are not predictive of rearrest; for Hispanic youths, substance abuse risk factors are not predictive. (Contains 7 Figures, 36 Tables, and a List of Acronyms.) [ This report was produced by the RAND corporation]

This study examined the status of children in three Los Angeles, California neighborhoods, taking information from the 1998 Focused Study of Children and Neighborhoods, which involved 91 families. After discussing reasons to care about neighborhoods and suggesting that neighborhoods are the foundation upon which the basic social and economic structure of society is built, the report profiles the three neighborhoods and discusses neighborhood characteristics that researchers and child development specialists consider important for children (age of community residents, resident incomes, and residential turnover in the neighborhood). The three neighborhoods in the study differed substantially on all three dimensions. Overall, residents had very clear ideas about the boundaries of their neighborhoods, but they did not necessarily agree about where those boundaries lay. Residents differed by neighborhood in their views on neighborhood safety and relationships with neighbors. All three neighborhoods were reported to have fairly high levels of social cohesion. There were some important differences in children's wellbeing among the neighborhoods. Family income and characteristics explained some of the differences, but not all of the differences. Results suggest that differences in neighborhood stability, safety, and social relations among neighbors may be part of the explanation. (Contains 8 endnotes and 5 bibliographic references.) (SM)

This report details one piece of a larger, integrated research plan to provide scientific evidence on the effectiveness of fine arts interventions in promoting positive change in youth. This report, Phase 3, states that, building on prior work, interview data were collected and analyzed from 35 arts interventions in the Los Angeles (California) area with the objective to relate expert assessments of the prosocial value of a range of fine arts interventions to specific program features. The results of this analysis will be combined with earlier research to lay the foundation for a longitudinal, multi-city field experiment tracking the impact of arts interventions on at-risk youth. Analysis suggests that serious artistic instruction is a necessary program feature for fine arts interventions to promote prosocial development in youth. It notes that this association of artistic discipline with prosocial development in youth is not a surprise: review of the research literature on community-based intervention programs pointed to disciplined effort as one characteristic of effective interventions, and the subsequent study of "best practice" arts interventions supported the same conclusion. The report pinpoints five program features as strongly associated with prosocial impact: extended time-in-program; complementary program components; ties with other community organizations; youth mentorship opportunities; and emphasis on performance and presentation. (Contains 2 figures, 13 tables, and 22 notes. Appendixes contain expert surveys, interview protocol, and program data charts.) (BT)

Perhaps the only way to maintain consistent support for the arts will be to demonstrate decisively that fine arts programs can contribute in quantifiable and positive ways to solving important social problems such as crime and violence. The broad goal of this impact study is to provide such evidence. This report discusses the results of the second phase of a three phase study. Phase 2 has four objectives: to refine the theoretical framework using data gathered from Phase 2 field work to supplement the literature review in Phase 1; to identify best-practice programs using this refined theory; to develop initial versions of assessment instruments; and to provide advice for members of the arts-intervention community. Nine Los Angeles (California) arts intervention programs selected for in-depth investigation shared a commitment to developing youth as "whole people." The report explains that examination of best-practices sites led to: (1) a greatly enriched theory of effective arts interventions; (2) instrument development and outcome measures to be used in Phase 3; and (3) a rich picture of important characteristics of arts interventions that appear to work. The study found that successful programs are often led by one or two charismatic leaders or change agents. The arts interventions studied demonstrated a high degree of flexibility in program structure and operations, i.e., the use of mentorship. (Contains a figure, 19 tables, 26 references, and 14 online references. Appended are interview protocols and a supplementary study.) (BT)

Much informal evidence argues that the arts can contribute significantly to social well-being, enhance community and individual development, and in so doing help reduce crime and violence. The broad goal of this study was to provide evidence to corroborate the informal findings. The paper reports the results of Phase 1 of the project which examined all studies that claim a relationship between arts interventions and positive social outcomes for at-risk youth. Work in Phases 1 and 2 provided a foundation for the important tasks of Phase 3, a rigorous empirical examination of the social benefits of a carefully designed fine arts intervention program. The research plan comprised several steps: a review of current literature on arts interventions, compiled in a database; an examination of the theoretical literature for research that offered insights into why arts interventions succeed; and the development of a conceptual framework applied to the studies in the project database. The framework permitted searching for specific features in arts interventions which were expected to be strongly associated with positive outcomes. The paper explains that the framework was distilled into a coding scheme that could be applied to the studies in the database; coding was applied to over 200 arts/humanities programs for at-risk youth recently described in a comprehensive report. It finds that very few studies reported collecting evaluation data and recommends that arts programs take three approaches to improve evaluation: key demonstrations, evaluation add-ons, and sharing mechanisms. (Contains a figure, 11 tables, and 138 references. Appended is a bibliographic database of arts related literature.) (BT)

This paper presents a case analysis of the role of the Los Angeles School Monitoring Committee in the implementation of school desegregation. The analysis provides information about how citizens' monitoring committees (CMCs) work in the desegregated setting, along with the challenges, problems and opportunities they are likely to face. The paper is divided into three parts. The first section is historical and describes the origin of CMCs and the Los Angeles School Monitoring Committee. The second section outlines the accomplishments of the Los Angeles CMC and analyzes its contributions to the achievement of desegregation. Finally, the paper reviews the problems faced by the Los Angeles CMC which have limited its effectiveness, and proposes solutions to some of those difficulties. (Author/APM)

This report documents the recent course of events in government spending, taxing, and employment at all three levels of government. It also speculates on the nature and causes of fiscal containment in its myriad forms. The report devotes one chapter to a case study of city budgets in Los Angeles during the five years of rapid growth immediately preceding the passage of Proposition 13. Finally, it investigates the history and current status of the fiscal limitation movement. The report concludes that (1) the current American tax revolt is merely the latest in a historical series, (2) Proposition 13 represents only one form of fiscal limitation, (3) evidence exists that current fiscal limitation measures, though generally slowing the rate of government growth, have not had as great an effect as their supporters had hoped, and (4) fiscal limitation statutes and constitutional amendments are but one of many causes of the restrained growth of state and local government that has occurred over the last five years. (Author)