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Doing time, filling time: Bureaucratic ritualism as a systemic barrier to youth reentry

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  • Fader, Jamie J.
  • Dum, Christopher P.

Abstract

This paper contributes to knowledge about the challenges of youth reentry by examining how transitional services can function as a barrier to – instead of a support for – healthy reintegration of youth. Using participant observation conducted in 2003–2004 at a juvenile aftercare program in Philadelphia, we explore a pervasive problem that Merton (1940) termed “bureaucratic ritualism.” Case workers and administrators became beholden to daily demands related to billing, paperwork, and meeting minimum standards, supplanting the larger goal of individualized care for young people returning from placements. Outputs, not outcomes, became the measure of success. We identify a number of reintegration activities that were ritualistic in nature and explore the features of the system that encouraged ritualistic responses by aftercare workers. Finally, we identify a group of aftercare workers, which we call “proactive caregivers” who resisted the organizational pressures to become bureaucratic ritualists.

Suggested Citation

  • Fader, Jamie J. & Dum, Christopher P., 2013. "Doing time, filling time: Bureaucratic ritualism as a systemic barrier to youth reentry," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 899-907.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:35:y:2013:i:5:p:899-907
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.03.001
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    1. Wright, Thomas A., 1993. "Correctional employee turnover: A longitudinal study," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 131-142.
    2. Holzer Harry J. & Ihlanfeldt Keith R. & Sjoquist David L., 1994. "Work, Search, and Travel among White and Black Youth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 320-345, May.
    3. Michael A. Stoll & Steven Raphael, 2000. "Racial Differences in Spatial Job Search Patterns: Exploring the Causes and Consequences," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 201-223, July.
    4. Curtis, Russell L. & Reese, William A. & Cone, Michael Patrick, 1990. "Cynicism among juvenile probation officers: A study of subverted ideals," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 501-517.
    5. Abrams, Laura S. & Snyder, Susan M., 2010. "Youth offender reentry: Models for intervention and directions for future inquiry," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 1787-1795, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rapp, Adam & Baker, Thomas L. & Bachrach, Daniel G. & Ogilvie, Jessica & Beitelspacher, Lauren Skinner, 2015. "Perceived customer showrooming behavior and the effect on retail salesperson self-efficacy and performance," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 358-369.
    2. O'Neill, Sue C. & Strnadová, Iva & Cumming, Therese M., 2017. "Systems barriers to community re-entry for incarcerated youths: A review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 29-36.

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