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UHLER, BETHANY SHAUNE, D. Beyond the Corner: Incorporating Music Into a Juvenile Detention Center. (2020) Directed by Dr. Alex Ezerman and Dr.

Approximately 600,000 youth are detained in juvenile facilities annually (Ramirez, 2008) and 50%–80% reoffend following their release (Reed, Miller, & Novosel, 2017). The majority of these youth (70%) have experienced serious trauma and need rehabilitation to recover and learn pro-social skills. Among effective behavioral interventions, music may serve as a catalyst for personal and interpersonal development (Cohen, 2009; Hickey, 2018; Marcum, 2014). To explore the role music may play in rehabilitation, I developed a string program at a youth development center.

The resulting qualitative study posed the question, what benefits, if any, are experienced by members of a string ensemble? Eight of Chatham Strings’ members, aged 13 to 17, volunteered to participate in this study. The demographics of the students were White female (1), Black female (3), Hispanic female (1), Black male (2), and White male (1). None of the students previously played a string instrument. The data for this study included interviews with youth in the program, facility staff members, and field notes.

Four themes—Exposure and New Experiences, Pride and Recognition, Personal and Interpersonal Development, and Collaborating to Help Youth—emerged from the data analysis. The first theme documented the teens’ journey as they moved from resistance to participation and success in the string program. In the second theme the youth described: experiencing satisfaction in their success, realizing their potential to do something positive, receiving positive reinforcement from others, and making people they loved proud. In the third theme, youth reflected that participation in the string program improved emotional release, behavior regulation, frustration tolerance, time management, communication skills, and willingness to help others.

The fourth theme, which was specific to staff participants, expressed that the string program contributed to the community effort of restorative justice. Implications for prison music programs are discussed. BEYOND THE CORNER: INCORPORATING MUSIC INTO A JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER by Bethany Shaune Uhler A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts Greensboro 2020 Approved by Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation, written by Bethany Shaune Uhler, has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair Committee Member Date of Acceptance by Committee Date of Final Oral Examination ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was certainly not conducted in a vacuum, and I am indebted to a great host of people who have unstintingly given of their time and resources to help me.

I never could have developed this program or conducted this study without my committee. Many thanks to Dr. Alex Ezerman for his wisdom, patience, kindness, creative thinking, support, encouragement, nurture, and for always being a safe person with whom I could think and brainstorm; to Dr. Rebecca MacLeod for her energy, encouragement, help in charting much unknown territory, and invaluable aid with so many details; and to Dr.

Scott Rawls for his encouragement and kindness. I am indebted to Mr. Charles Dingle and the staff at Chatham Youth Development Center. All of them have been not only helpful and accommodating, but supportive and enthusiastic, giving me their invaluable input and perspective as the primary caregivers of the youth.

Special thanks to Mr. Dingle, who enthusiastically gave me a chance, to Mr. Dingle, and Mr. McLean for their insights in the interviews, and to Ms.

Miller for organizing the overview day at Chatham to help me experience life there. Thanks, also, to Matthew Jenkins, the communications officer at NC Juvenile Justice Central Office for his support and documentation of Chatham Strings. I never could have launched or sustained Chatham Strings the support and kindness of all of these fine people who devote their lives to helping our youth. I also want to thank the accomplished and inspirational researchers and prison arts program directors who, though I was a stranger to them, graciously and generously gave iii me their time and wisdom, especially Dr.

Maud Hickey, Dr. Mary Cohen, and Ms. Many thanks to my family—Dad, Mom, Atan, Rachel, Hannah, Kara, Leah, Bobby, Sara, Elias, Samuel, Seth, and Melisa—for all their love and support, and to Uncle Darin, who unintentionally helped me start to think about this type of work, and who has supported and encouraged the program that grew out of those musings. My gratitude also goes to Lemaro, who came at the end of this process and gave me so much encouragement and love.

And last, but very far from least, I am grateful for the students who participate in Chatham Strings. I have come to care about each one, and the opportunity to learn with them is one I do not take lightly. My special thanks go to the eight students who participated in individual and focus group interviews to give me their unique and valuable perspectives. If participating in music making affects their lives for the good, even in the smallest way, I will count all of this work a success.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: KELLI’S STORY. THE STATUS OF JUVENILE DETENTION IN THE UNITED STATES—AN OVERVIEW .4 Juvenile Offenders Defined .4 Average Length of Stay .5 Age at Admittance .9 Contributing Factors to Crime Involvement .11 Rehabilitation: Success or Failure?. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .16 Overview of Chapter .16 Needs of Juvenile Offenders .16 Prison Music Program Overview: A Rehabilitative Approach.17 Composition and Song Writing .18 Facilitating Trauma Recovery and Emotional Regulation.19 Providing Positive Educational Experiences .21 Positive Association with Learning and Authority .22 Involvement in an Activity with Positive Outcomes .24 Sense of Achievement.25 Fostering Interpersonal Development .26 Collaborating in a Musical Setting .28 Developing Pro-Social Skills .33 Altering Societal Perceptions of the Incarcerated .34 The Other Side—The Invisible Victim .38 Research Method—The Nature of Case Study Research .38 v Description of the Research Site—Chatham Youth Development Center .39 Description of the Program—Chatham Strings .44 Description of Participants .45 Description of PI .53 Delimitations and Limitations of the Study .55 Four Emergent Themes .55 Theme 1: Exposure and New Experiences .55 Being Discouraged from Learning New Things .56 Being Given an Opportunity to Learn Something New.58 Enjoying New Experiences .59 Transferring ‘Openness to New Things’ into Other Domains .63 Being Given Another Chance to Engage Differently with Life .65 Theme 2: Pride and Recognition.68 Pride: Acquiring a Skill that Could be Shared with Others .68 Pride: Collaborating with Peers in a Positive Endeavor .69 Pride: Taking Satisfaction in Success .70 Pride: Recognizing Their Potential to do Good Things in Life .71 Pride: Overcoming the Pressures of Performance .71 Recognition: Receiving Positive Reinforcement from Others .73 Recognition: Making People They Love Proud.74 Recognition: Receiving Attention for Something Positive, Not Negative.76 Theme 3: Personal and Interpersonal Development .76 Personal Development: Releasing Emotions .77 Personal Development: Regulating Behavior .77 Personal Development: Dealing with Frustrations and Persevering .78 Personal Development: Using Time More Productively .81 Interpersonal Development: Improving Communication Skills .82 Interpersonal Development: Improving Patience and Emotional Impulse Control .83 Interpersonal Development: Accepting Feedback .85 vi Interpersonal Development: Recognizing the Interdependence of Ensemble Playing .86 Interpersonal Development: Helping Peers .87 Interpersonal Development: Kindness .88 Theme 4: Collaborating to Help Youth (Staff Only) .88 Another Perspective: My Journey at Chatham .90 Getting to Chatham .91 Understanding Chatham’s Youth.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .107 Connecting Study Results to Prior Research .107 Possible Benefits of Chatham Strings. INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND QUESTIONS. IRB APPROVAL LETTER. CHATHAM YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTER DIRECTOR LETTER.

“ON THE SCENE” DIGEST ARTICLE 1. “ON THE SCENE” DIGEST ARTICLE 2.131 vii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: KELLI’S STORY Kelli’s dad taught her to play the drums and a little guitar, and she sang in her middle school chorus. Her mom passed away when she was young, and by the time she was 13 or 14, various factors and her decisions landed her in a juvenile detention facility. Kelli spent most of her teen years in the justice system, transferred from facility to facility.

She refers to directors of various facilities as her “parents.” By the time she walked into my string class at Chatham Youth Development Center, she had been in detention facilities for about 4 years, with a year remaining before her 18th birthday and release. Kelli is reserved but pleasant, with a slow, warm smile. Like Kelli, youth in juvenile detention centers are typical young people, the ones you see at the store or in your neighborhood. They played basketball in the park down the street.

They went to the middle school near your house. However, many did not go to school often enough to play in the band or on a sports team. Many live in poverty (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014) and some have been involved with gangs (Daykin, De Viggiani, Pilkington, & Moriarty, 2012; Rameriz, 2008); others have substance addiction issues (Marcum, 2014; Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014). One out of three has been physically and/or sexually abused (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014).

Seven out of ten have experienced severe trauma, such as observing a murder (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014). Some of them have been involved in trafficking. All have committed an offense, 2 and usually multiple offenses. Each one is a face among the approximately 600,000 U.

youth (Ramirez, 2008) who spend time in juvenile detention facilities each year. These youth are the faces of the United States’ future generation of nurses, factory workers, poets, teachers, and voters, who, like Kelli, will reenter society facing major life decisions at a vulnerable age. This case study chronicles the development of a string program (Chatham Strings) in a juvenile detention facility, a program that interacted with Kelli during her last year of confinement. The vision for Chatham Strings was to expose youth in detention to something new and challenge them to try something outside of their experience.

Youth placed in juvenile centers tend to be resistant to new experiences, but as a veteran staff member commented, “If you keep a kid in the corner, they know the corner.” Furthermore, if that corner involved a cycle of poverty, violence, abuse, and crime, returning to what is comfortable and normative is a serious problem. Many juvenile offenders re-offend after release (50-80%) because they return to the difficult situations from which many were taken. In order for these children to successfully reenter society and become productive citizens, we must break this vicious cycle. Music programs in the correctional system may be one way to try and help these young people experience something new and move forward.

Chatham Strings is just one small piece of a more extensive network of help and support in the lives of juveniles, a network comprised of dedicated professionals who invest deeply in them. This study focused on the 20 young people who participated in the music program, specifically following the experience of eight youth who agreed to participate in personal interviews. As I interacted with these 3 youth weekly, I asked the questions: What benefits, if any, do students gain from playing in the string ensemble? Does the program have a part in helping individuals like Kelli acquire perspective and skills beyond the corner? 4 CHAPTER II THE STATUS OF JUVENILE DETENTION IN THE UNITED STATES—AN OVERVIEW Juvenile Offenders Defined According to the 2014 Juvenile Crime and Victim report, about 24% of the U. population, approximately 74,181,500 people, were under the age of 18 in 2010 (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014) and thus considered juveniles.

The term juvenile offender refers to the approximated 0.05% of America’s juvenile population who have committed a legal offense. The term crime is being eradicated from juvenile justice vocabulary to reflect the paradigm shift in how youth are viewed within the correctional system.6 million juvenile arrests are reported each year (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014).