Issues-based Art Workshop with Girls in the Juvenile Arbitration System: A Community-University Partnership

Since 2005, University of South Carolina’s Women’s Well-Being Initiative (WWBI) has implemented issues-based art workshops (IBAW) with female juvenile offenders (FJO), in collaboration with the Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration (JA) Program. We utilize a mixed-methods approach to assess the effectiveness of these workshops, and describe the processes of implementation, including strengths and challenges of a university-community partnership in the area of restorative youth justice. Quantitative data consisted of information on race, age, types of offenses, sanctions or workshops completed, and recidivism (n=383); qualitative data included 120 participant evaluations and field observations conducted by workshop facilitators. Thirty nine percent of all White FJOs (n=72), and 30 % (n=59) of all Black FJOs were assigned to IBAW. Recidivism rates among FJOs who completed IBAW were 16.8%, whereas the rates were 19.5% among FJOs who did not complete IBAW (chi-square test, p>0.05). Qualitative findings suggest that use of diverse art media facilitates self-expression among FJOs, allowing them to refuse negative labels attached to being a juvenile offender. Furthermore, engaging in critical discussions with peers, on challenges they face, such as bullying, alcohol and drug use, enables them to identify new ways of exercising agency to better their lives. Achieving positive outcomes required negotiation of different approaches to ‘at risk’ youth between the partners from the university and law enforcement. Building trust relationships with JA program personnel, involving them in all stages of implementation and evaluation helped researchers to improve the design and delivery of the workshops, while challenging community perceptions of ‘bad girls’.