This study investigated the economics of multisystemic therapy for problem sexual behaviors (MST-PSB), a family-based treatment that has shown promise with juvenile sexual offenders. We evaluated the ...cost and benefits of MST-PSB versus usual community services using arrest data obtained in an 8.9-year follow-up from a randomized clinical trial with 48 juvenile sexual offenders, who averaged 22.9 years of age at follow-up (Borduin, Schaeffer, & Heiblum, 2009). The net benefit of MST-PSB over usual community services was calculated in terms of (a) the value to taxpayers, which was based on measures of criminal justice system expenses (e.g., police and sheriff's offices, court processing, community supervision); and (b) the value to crime victims, which was based on measures of both tangible (e.g., property damage and loss, health care, lost productivity) and intangible (e.g., pain, suffering, reduced quality of life) losses. Lower rates of posttreatment arrests in the MST-PSB versus usual community services conditions were associated with lasting reductions in expenses for both taxpayers and crime victims, with an estimated total benefit of $343,455 per MST-PSB participant. Stated differently, every dollar spent on MST-PSB recovered $48.81 in savings to taxpayers and crime victims over the 8.9-year follow-up. These findings demonstrate that a family-based treatment such as MST-PSB can produce lasting economic benefits with juvenile sexual offenders. Policymakers and public service agencies should consider these findings when making decisions about interventions for this challenging clinical population.
Given that one of the most powerful predictors of adult crime is the presence of behavior problems in childhood and adolescence, there is a need to further understand factors that determine behavior ...patterns during this developmental stage. This study focuses on stressful life experiences such as exposure to delinquent peers, racial discrimination, as well as family characteristics such as parenting style and family transitions. Data come from four waves of the Family and Community Health Survey, an African-American sample. The present study investigates 354 males from this dataset. We utilize a group-based trajectory model to estimate the number and type of trajectories of delinquency. We then estimate multinomial regression models to predict trajectory group membership. The results indicated that there were four distinct groups of offenders (negligible delinquents; early starter/declining; late starter; and early starter/chronic offenders). We predicted group membership using both early predictors and measures of change in these predictors across the study period. The results indicated that individuals who experience greater racial discrimination (both early in childhood and throughout adolescence) are more likely to be in trajectory groups that begin offending early and persist through adolescence. Additionally, those respondents who reported having friends with greater delinquent behavior were more likely to be in groups that began their offending early in life and persisted when compared to groups who started later or desisted as they entered adulthood. The results contribute to developmental research and provide information that may be helpful in preventing adolescents from persisting in antisocial behavior as they enter adulthood.
There is a largely unmet need for evidence-based interventions that reduce future aggression and incarceration in clinically aggressive juvenile offenders serving probation. We addressed this gap ...using a group randomized controlled trial. Offenders both with and without clinical aggression were included, enabling comparison of intervention effects.
Juveniles 13 to 17 years old (N = 310, mean = 16 years, 90% African-American, 66% male) on probation were assigned to a 2-week intervention targeting psychosocial factors implicated in risky behavior (e.g., learning strategies to manage "hot" emotions that prompt risk taking) or to an equally intensive health promotion control. Participants completed aggression measures at baseline, 6-, and 12-month follow-up and reported on incarceration at 12 months. Spline regression tested symptom change.
Among clinically aggressive offenders (n = 71), the intervention arm showed significantly greater reductions in aggression over the first 6 months compared with controls. Juveniles from the intervention no longer met clinical criteria, on average, but clinically significant symptoms persisted in the control group. By 12 months, participants from the intervention appeared to maintain treatment gains, but their symptom levels no longer differed significantly from those in the control. However, the intervention group was nearly 4 times less likely than controls to report incarceration. Intervention effects were significantly stronger for offenders with clinical than with nonclinical (n = 239) baseline aggression.
A 2-week intervention expedited improvements in aggression and reduced incarceration in clinically aggressive juvenile offenders. The findings underscore the importance of directing intervention resources to the most aggressive youth. Clinical trial registration information-PHAT Life: Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Teens in Juvenile Justice (PHAT Life); http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02647710.
Downward trends in a number of adolescent risk behaviors including violence, crime, and drug use have been observed in the USA in recent years. It is unknown whether these are separate trends or ...whether they might relate to a general reduction in propensity to engage in such behaviors. Our objectives were to quantify trends in substance use disorders (SUDs) and delinquent behaviors over the 2003-2014 period and to determine whether they might reflect a single trend in an Externalizing-like trait.
We analyzed data from 12 to 17 year old participants from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a representative survey of the household dwelling population of the USA, across the 2003-2014 period (N = 210 599). Outcomes included past-year prevalence of six categories of substance use disorder and six categories of delinquent behavior.
Trend analysis suggested a net decline of 49% in mean number of SUDs and a 34% decline in delinquent behaviors over the 12-year period. Item Response Theory models were consistent with the interpretation that declines in each set of outcomes could be attributed to changes in mean levels of a latent, Externalizing-like trait.
Our findings suggest that declines in SUDs and some delinquent behaviors reflect a single trend related to an Externalizing-like trait. Identifying the factors contributing to this trend may facilitate continued improvement across a spectrum of adolescent risk behaviors.
Using a national probability sample of adolescents (12–17), this study applies general strain theory to how violent victimization, vicarious violent victimization, and dual violent victimization ...affect juvenile violent/property crime and drug use. In addition, the mediating effect and moderating effect of depression, low social control, and delinquent peer association on the victimization–delinquency relationship is also examined. Based on SEM analyses and contingency tables, the results indicate that all three types of violent victimization have significant and positive direct effects on violent/property crime and drug use. In addition, the expected mediating effects and moderating effects are also found. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
This study examined the longitudinal consistency of mother–child reporting discrepancies of parental monitoring and whether these discrepancies predict children’s delinquent behaviors 2 years later. ...Participants included 335 mother/female-caregiver and child (46% boys, >90% African American; age range 9–16 years
M
= 12.11, SD = 1.60) dyads living in moderate-to-high violence areas. Mother–child discrepancies were internally consistent within multiple assessment points and across measures through a 2-year follow-up assessment. Further, mothers who at baseline consistently reported higher levels of parental monitoring relative to their child had children who reported greater levels of delinquent behaviors 2 years later, relative to mother–child dyads that did not evidence consistent discrepancies. This finding could not be accounted for by baseline levels of the child’s delinquency, maternal and child emotional distress, or child demographic characteristics. This finding was not replicated when relying on the individual reports of parental monitoring to predict child delinquency, suggesting that mother–child reporting discrepancies provided information distinct from the absolute frequency of reports. Findings suggest that mother–child discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring can be employed as new individual differences measurements in developmental psychopathology research.
Objective: Debate ensues regarding female-specific risk and strength factors among adolescent offenders. Using meta-analysis, we examined whether risk and strength factors predicted recidivism ...differentially between male and female youth. Method: Database searches identified 22 studies, representing 50,601 justice-involved youth (11,952 females and 38,649 males) and a total of 584 effect sizes. Results: For the global risk domains, there is some evidence for gender neutrality (i.e., risk factors predict to the same degree for both males and females) among most domains (e.g., antisocial peer relations, problematic family circumstances and parenting, substance abuse, antisocial personality/behavior, and antisocial attitudes/orientation). Although the global domains of mental health and child abuse were not significantly predictive for either gender, the global child abuse results trended in favor of predicting recidivism for females. When global risk domains were broken into indicators, some evidence for gender differences emerged (e.g., chronic alcohol use and family substance abuse predicted more strongly for females than for males). Last, gender comparisons among the global strength domains revealed that prosocial peers and the absence of substance abuse predicted success (i.e., no recidivism) for both genders, though a stronger effect emerged for males. In addition, education/employment strengths predicted success for males, whereas prosocial values predicted success for females. Limitations such as the lack of studies that defined constructs from the female experience, and the small number of primary studies are discussed. Conclusions: Advancing the future of gender informed practice with justice-involved youth will require careful consideration of both gender similarities and differences.
What is the public health significance of this article?
This study highlights the importance of considering gender differences as well as similarities in risk and strength factors when working with justice-involved youth, particularly when broad level constructs are disaggregated. Especially when working with girls in a justice context, factors that emerge with smaller effect sizes (e.g., abuse and mental health) or not significantly related to outcome may still be relevant in providing holistic and responsive services and, as such, should not be ignored.
Juvenile Drug Court Henggeler, Scott W; Halliday-Boykins, Colleen A; Cunningham, Phillippe B ...
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology,
02/2006, Volume:
74, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Evaluated the effectiveness of juvenile drug court for 161 juvenile offenders meeting diagnostic criteria for substance abuse or dependence and determined whether the integration of evidence-based ...practices enhanced the outcomes of juvenile drug court. Over a 1-year period, a four-condition randomized design evaluated outcomes for family court with usual community services, drug court with usual community services, drug court with multisystemic therapy, and drug court with multisystemic therapy enhanced with contingency management for adolescent substance use, criminal behavior, symptomatology, and days in out-of-home placement. In general, findings supported the view that drug court was more effective than family court services in decreasing rates of adolescent substance use and criminal behavior. Possibly due to the greatly increased surveillance of youths in drug court, however, these relative reductions in antisocial behavior did not translate to corresponding decreases in rearrest or incarceration. In addition, findings supported the view that the use of evidence-based treatments within the drug court context improved youth substance-related outcomes. Clinical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
This study is a 2-year follow-up of girls with serious and chronic delinquency who were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial conducted from 1997 to 2002 comparing multidimensional treatment foster ...care (MTFC) and group care (
N
= 81). Girls were referred by juvenile court judges and had an average of over 11 criminal referrals when they entered the study. A latent variable analysis of covariance model controlling for initial status demonstrated maintenance of effects for MTFC in preventing delinquency at the 2-year assessment, as measured by days in locked settings, number of criminal referrals, and self-reported delinquency. A latent variable growth model focusing on variance in individual trajectories across the course of the study also demonstrated the efficacy of MTFC. Older girls exhibited less delinquency over time relative to younger girls in both conditions. Implications for gender-sensitive programming for youths referred from juvenile justice are discussed.
Both residential mobility and community disadvantage have been shown to be associated with negative outcomes for adolescents generally and juvenile offenders specifically. The current study examines ...the effects of moving among a large sample (n = 13,096) of previously adjudicated youth (31.6 % female, 41.2 % Black, 16.5 % Hispanic). Additionally, we examine whether moving upward to a more affluent neighborhood, moving downward to an area of greater disadvantage, or moving laterally to a similar neighborhood tempers the effects of residential mobility. We use a combination of analytical techniques, including propensity score matching to untangle the effects of mobility sans pre-existing conditions between movers and non-movers. Results show relocation increases recidivism, irrespective of the direction of the move with regard to socioeconomic context. Moving upward has the most detrimental impact for adjudicated male adolescents, while downward relocations evidenced the largest effect for female youth. Implications for policy and future research needs are discussed.
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