An Analysis of the Impact of Faith-Based Mentorship on Males in the Juvenile Justice System in Tampa Bay, Florida

With the increasing rate of delinquency, incarceration, and recidivism among many young men in Tampa, Florida, this study addressed the disparity between state juvenile justice program outcomes and results versus the investment of resources by proposing a model to include spiritual mentoring. These programs have had a history of providing rehabilitation services only to find the young men who have gone through the programs returned to either to incarceration or a life of crime. This study’s contention was that adding spiritual mentorship programs could bring about transformation, permanent change, and direction for these young men. In the time period of 2019-2022, this
study included conducting interviews with 30 program directors, church leaders and community and civic leaders; 2 focus groups containing 15 members from 11 different state programs; local churches; 9 social service agencies; and documentation and observations from 6 state reports. The results were overwhelmingly (89.4%) in favor of adding a
spiritual mentoring program and the projected benefits that could be gained from doing so.
Data from both the interviews and focus groups indicated that a spiritual mentor program had more opportunity to provide long-term transformation when compared to the behavior modification approach found in many state programs. The conclusion from this study was that the integration of Christian principles and precepts could give the
greatest opportunity for true transformation, not just a temporary improvement in behavior. The study also identified seven critical components for the spiritual mentoring program model, and these have been included in the model. A video documentary was produced to capture the essence of this study.