Juvenile Justice More than 2.5 million juveniles are arrested every year in America and 70% of juveniles convicted of crimes have gone on to commit crimes again. With Our U.S. prison population increasing 15 times faster than the general population, the urgency for youth intervention has never been greater! Turning the tide of juvenile delinquency one child at a time Statistics tell us that over 75% of the people who ever come to Christ do so by the age of 18. If we don't reach young people by this age, our chances of reaching them later are very slim. Breakaway provides outreach programs for kids locked up in juvenile detention centers and youthful offender prisons throughout the southeastern United States. These services include small group Bible studies, entrepreneurial training, counseling, one-to-one mentoring, high-energy extreme sports events, recovery groups, aftercare assistance, and reentry support. Where Do They Come From? Most of the kids who commit crimes suffer from the impact of a broken family, the lack of positive peers, and a cultural epidemic of violence and abandoned morals. Juvenile correctional institutions today are filled with kids from urban, suburban, and rural America.
What Do They Need? One study indicated that 94% of incarcerated youth have never had one single positive adult male role model that was consistently present in their life! Another study indicated that 84% of the boys who become serious juvenile offenders have parents with criminal records. It is quite clear that at-risk young people are in desperate need of healthy relationships with adults. Our approach is more about building relationships with young people than building programs. The Justice Department reported that nearly 1.5-million American children have a mother or a father in federal or state prison. Of these children, 1.38 million live in homes without their fathers. A study presented to the American Sociological Association showed that these boys with absentee fathers are twice as likely to end up in prison as those who come from two-parent families. Welcome to our mission field! These kids are desperate for a family, positive relationships, and godly influences in their lives! We can sit back and watch young offenders get caught up in the cycle of becoming "lifers," or we can intervene today and help them Breakaway from a troubled past and become responsible young adults in our society. Statistics say that most of the kids incarcerated today will become repeat offenders. Breakaway Outreach is there to show kids that statistics don't determine their future, their choices do! |
Building hope through justice!
Regardless of where kids come from, the majority of them will be going back to their communities, perhaps in your neighborhood. We can choose to discard them, but we cannot deny that Jesus Christ died for them. We must remember that those who deserve love the least need it the most!