Prison makes most youths worse while early developmental programs pay dividends

Evidence

Once youths get into trouble with the law, they cycle through the prison system, with most coming out worse than when they went in. Investment in developmental programs that cultivate children’s interests, aspirations, competencies, and resilient beliefs in their efficacy to realize their hopes pays large future dividends. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1153

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Bandura’s self-efficacy framework and the desistance literature showing incarceration criminogenic rather than rehabilitative.