MIMIC: Tackling the Root Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Summary

The interconnected issues of violence, poverty, lack of social support, and high school dropout rates have led to an ever-increasing incarceration of young people from inner-city areas with large minority populations. The police, court, and state-run juvenile justice systems’ response to social problems is reactive, funneling young people into expensive treatment and reintegration programs. These programs generally have very limited success.

Men in Motion in the Community (MIMIC) is a group of men — most of whom are ex-offenders — whose concerns about the high number of youth entering the juvenile justice system prompted them to provide mentorship and crisis intervention to most-at-risk young males (ages 12-17) in their North Philadelphia community. Many of these youth are very hard to reach via conventional channels (like the state-run programs). Given their personal experiences, MIMIC volunteers are able to connect to the youth quickly, eliminating the barriers faced by traditional service providers in engaging extremely at-risk youth (Desamour 2009). MIMIC offers a proactive, community-based solution that focuses on root causes to prevent youth from entering the juvenile justice system in the first place. In addition, some of the men who volunteer with MIMIC find that transforming their own past prison experiences into a positive contribution to their communities facilitates a more sustainable re-entry experience for them.

To tackle youth crime, we must address the root causes of crime, not the act itself. MIMIC demonstrates that the best way to “reform” the juvenile justice system is to make sure the juveniles don’t enter the system at all. The authentic relationships, emphasis on male role models rooted in the community, and similarities in background between MIMIC volunteers and at-risk youth all contribute to the volunteers’ success.

Edwin Desamour, co-founder and president of MIMIC, was enveloped in a cycle of poverty and violence throughout his childhood in North Philadelphia. He was sent to prison for 8 years at the age of 16, followed by 11.5 years of parole. He sees MIMIC as a way to take ongoing responsibility for his actions and to make his community a safer place for the next generation.

In 2007, Edwin rallied together a group of men previously released from prison, urging them to think about the legacy they were leaving for the next generation in their community. He set up a time where a few of the men could make a presentation for a group of at-risk youth at a local high school. The men shared their histories and testimonies with the kids and then invited the youth to call them if they needed someone to talk to about changing the direction of their lives. MIMIC was born in that high school auditorium, and the following onslaught of calls made the immediate need for crisis intervention and mentoring apparent.

Edwin says, “When I look at the issue of disproportionate police contact with minority youth, I think to myself this is our job to fix, this is our legacy. We call ourselves “Men in Motion in the Community” because adult male presence really has an impact on younger males. You know, I never have to say that I care, and yet I always get letters that say ‘thank you for caring.’ Kids know the difference between caring and a program. We promise a relationship to these kids, not a program…but they have to want it.”