Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs that work

An extensive body of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of community-based rehabilitation and treatment programs for delinquent youth, including violent juvenile offenders. The critical components of successful programs for such youth are:

• Small size, so that youth can receive individualized attention;

• Intensive case management, with small case loads, to allow close supervision of youth and enable youth to develop positive relationships with adults;

• An emphasis on re-entry and re-integration into the home community through appropriate aftercare services;

• Opportunities for young people in the programs to make decisions and to achieve success;

• Clear and consistent consequences for misbehavior or violation of program rules;

• High quality educational and vocational programming; and

• A variety of forms of individual and family counseling matched to particular needs of youth in the program.

There are many examples of effective programs throughout the country, and an extensive listing can be found in the Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Massachusetts, Utah, and Missouri have closed their large juvenile institutions and developed extensive arrays of varied community-based programs for most youth in their juvenile justice systems and small, secure facilities for the few youth who need to be incarcerated. There has been extensive research on the impact of these changes in Massachusetts and Utah. Recidivism rates are as good or better than most other jurisdictions and much better than states that rely primarily on large juvenile correction facilities. Moreover, since community-based care is generally much less expensive than secure confinement, these states have realized substantial savings.

References

Sources: Michael A. Jones and Barry Krisberg, Images and Reality: Juvenile Crime, Youth Violence and Public Policy, National Council on Crime and Delinquency (1994); James C. Howell (ed.)

Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1995)