Within our current culture there is a prevalent and distinct problem within our youth. Delinquency and involvement in the juvenile justice system often leads to incarceration later on down the road. Currently the state of Arkansas is sitting at 5th in the nation (942) in regard to incarceration rates ( ). The end goal is to see this number decrease drastically for the hopes of less crime and incarceration. This begs the question: Why does the incarceration rates remain the same?

After research it is shown that through studies conducted with African American men, positive male role models whether that be a father, or some other role model is needed in the life of a young man. Within this study the 8 males who took part 75% of them had no father figure involved in their childhood, from that percentage the number of males who struggled in school was 83%. The males that both had no father figure and also struggled in school 50% of those individuals either have a felony conviction or are in prison (Smith, 2015). With this statistic we see the prevalent need for positive male role models in the lives of kids at a young age. If we want to see an actual change in the incarceration rate of individuals, we must first look on a more micro level approach to; why? If we do take the initial steps to combat this and provide change, we might be able to put a stop this cycle of incarceration and delinquency. Creating a program that allows for young boys to receive an environment that is safe and gives them access to a positive male role model.