White House report on juvenile offender diversion programs highlights project with LEO ties | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › White House report on juvenile offender diversion programs highlights project with LEO ties White House report on juvenile offender diversion programs highlights project with LEO ties Published: July 15, 2015 Author: Michael O. Garvey A White House Council of Economic Advisers report released Tuesday (July 14) includes an account of Reading for Life (RFL), a local juvenile diversion program that is being evaluated by the University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). The report, “Economic Costs of Youth Disadvantage and High-Return Opportunities for Change,” features the RFL program, which has been used at the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center since 2007. RFL engages juvenile offenders in structured discussions of works of fiction that examine virtue. It makes use of virtue theory, works of literature, group discussion, small mentoring groups and journaling to stimulate moral development in juvenile offenders. Based on LEO’s analysis, RFL has resulted in large and statistically significant drops in future arrests. It has been particularly successful at reducing the likelihood of future serious offenses and reducing recidivism in groups with the highest propensity for future offenses. “We are very honored to be included in this report, and are grateful to the tremendous volunteer mentors, Reading for Life staff and financial sponsors who have made our research over the past 10 years both meaningful and accessible,” said RFL founder and board president Alesha Seroczynski. “Our data support what we already intuitively know,” said Seroczynski, who also is faculty affiliate with Notre Dame’s William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families. “RFL graduates return to our communities better citizens, making more virtuous life choices and contributing to the polis in ways that would make even Aristotle proud. Young people deserve the very best we can give them, and I sincerely hope that more youth embroiled in the juvenile justice system have the opportunity to experience RFL the way the adolescents in our study have.” The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities is a research center in Notre Dame’s economics department. It aims to identify innovative, effective and scalable programs that help people move out of poverty. LEO’s research is conducted by faculty from the University of Notre Dame as well as scholars from across the country with expertise in designing and evaluating the impact of domestic anti-poverty programs. Contact: Alesha Seroczynski, 574-631-0952, Seroczynski.1@nd.edu; William Evans, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics, wevans1@nd.edu Posted In: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related September 12, 2022 Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street … in different countries? September 12, 2022 Hurricane Harvey’s hardest hit survivors five times as likely to experience anxiety from COVID-19 pandemic August 29, 2022 Gender-diverse teams produce more novel, higher-impact scientific discoveries, study shows August 23, 2022 In race against hurricane season, engineers launch survey to study incentives for climate-resilient homes August 16, 2022 Early childhood lead exposure, exacerbated by structural racism, results in lower reading scores For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn