Search and leadership training in probation : A pre-evaluative study of an experiment in the treatment of delinquency in British Columbia

For many year, correctional theory has shown the need for a greater variety of treatment programs to combat the problem of delinquency. It has been mainly administrative problems, stemming from a lack of public support, that has resulted in the extensive gap between theory and practice. There have been several attempts to introduce new programs, but there are still many wide gaps in the total range of services that are needed. In adapting the principles of Outward Bound to a Correctional Program, the B.C. Corrections Branch has taken an imaginative and radical step towards filling part of the gap. Their Search and Leadership Training program (S.A.L.T.) is an injection of new ideas into an established field of practice rather than a progressional development within the field. However, there is virtually no theoretical or scientific evaluation of the principles or methods of Outward Bound available. In this study of the 1966 Search and Leadership Training courses for boys on probation, an attempt has been made to identify the basic theoretical assumptions on which the program rests. These assumptions have been related to current social science theory in order to show what concepts can eventually be tested by evaluation of the program. The main focus of this study has been at the pre-evaluative level. The research team has concentrated on developing instruments for the effective collection of data. These instruments, particularly the one developed to extract information from the pre-sentence report, are generic in scope and can be used to evaluate a variety of programs or the effectiveness of the pre-sentence report itself. The information collected on the twenty-four boys who took the two S.A.L.T. courses in 1966 has been tabulated to show the amount and the consistency of the data available. Perusal of this information gives a concise picture of that data and suggestions have been made as to what areas of information should be solicited to ensure future evaluative studies have adequate material to analyze.Arts, Faculty ofSocial Work, School ofGraduat