Evidence based practice for Juvenile Justice

Evidence Based Practice and
Treatment Programs for
Juvenile Offenders

Jennifer Samimi-Luu, LMSW
Jsamimi-luu@legal-aid.org

1

What is EBP?
 No consensus definition
 Be skeptical
 Culturally grounded???
 Become a knowledgeable consumer of EPB
information

2

Defining EBP
 …the integration of the best research
evidence with clinical expertise and patient
values
(Institute of Medicine)

3

Selecting a Practice
 EBP needs to fit population ,family,
individual
 Consistent with cultural beliefs and values

4

How much “evidence” is “Evidence”?
 Effective
 Efficacious
 Not effective
 Promising
 Emerging

5

Fidelity

 Adopting
 Adapting
 Adopt-Validate-Adapt-Evaluate

6

“Nothing Works”
 In 1975 Lipton, Martinson, & Wilks
concluded that research could not support
rehabilitation of juvenile offenders
 Today some effective interventions have been
developed, but most services utilized in the
juvenile justice system have either not been
proven effective or not been evaluated at all

7

Ineffective Programs and Policies
 Processing in juvenile justice system
 Analysis showed that processing in the juvenile
court tends to increase criminal behavior,
especially when compared to diversion programs
 Juveniles in criminal court
 Transfer to adult court is associated with higher
recidivism rates among juveniles

8

 Surveillance (probation or parole, all levels)
 Current evidence is mixed regarding the effects of
probation and parole on juvenile offending
 Used widely, but lack of strong empirical support
 Shock incarceration interventions (Scared
Straight)
 Increase the criminal behavior of juvenile
offenders

9

 Residential Placement
 Includes boot camps, group homes, detention
centers, residential treatment centers, and
wilderness camps
 Mental health, substance abuse, and educational
needs are deficient
 Increases criminal activity

10

EPB’s with Strong JJ Outcomes
 Parent Training
 Family Therapy
 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
 Mentoring
 Out of Home Care (not placement)

11

Blueprints for Healthy Youth
Development
 In 1996, the
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV), at
the University of Colorado Boulder, designed and launched a
national youth prevention initiative to identify and replicate
violence, delinquency and drug prevention programs that
have been demonstrated as effective.
 Each Blueprints program has been reviewed by an independent panel
of evaluation experts and determined to meet a clear set of scientific
standards. Programs meeting this standard have demonstrated at least
some effectiveness for changing targeted behavior and developmental
outcomes.
 Programs are rated as either Promising or Model. Promising
programs meet the minimum standard of effectiveness. Model
programs meet a higher standard and provide greater confidence in
the program’s capacity to change behavior and developmental
outcomes.
12

Blueprints
 MODEL PROGRAMS
 Model programs meet these additional standards:
 Evaluation Quality: A minimum of (a) two high quality
randomized control trials or (b) one high quality
randomized control trial plus one high quality quasi-
experimental evaluation.
 Positive intervention impact is sustained for a minimum
of 12 months after the program intervention ends.
 Over 1,100 programs have been evaluated – three
meet the “model” criteria for intervening with
juvenile offenders – FFT, MST, and MDFT
13

Functional Family Therapy (FFT)
 Blue Prints for Violence prevention model
program
 One of the first EBP’s in the field
 www.fftinc.com

14

 Presenting problem is viewed as symptom of
dysfunctional family relations
 Interventions aims to establish and maintain
new patterns of family behavior
 Integrates behavioral (i.e. communication
training) and cognitive behavioral (i.e.
assertiveness training, anger management)
interventions into treatment
15

 Phased-based; initially focuses on engaging
family members, moves to extensive effors at
individual and family behavior change,
concludes with interventions to allow for
sustainability
 Therapists are required to participate in
intensive training protocol

16

Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
 Blue Prints for Violence prevention model
program
 Focuses on youth with serious clinical issues
(violent or sexual offenses, substance use,
serious emotional disturbance)
 Uses “person-in-environment” persepective,
theory of social ecology

17

Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
 Comprehensive and flexible interventions that
address factors at individual, family, peer,
school, and community levels
 Includes intensive quality assurance and
improvement program

18

Multidimensional Treatment Foster
Care (MTFC)
 Developed as a community-based foster care
alternative to detention or group care facilities
 Intended to be used when other intensive in
and out of home services have failed

19

Multidimensional Treatment Foster
Care (MTFC)
Based on social learning theory, including
behavioral principles
 Reward and punishment

 Uses behavioral management plans and
cognitive behavioral techniques

20

Program Components
Effective Ineffective
 Address key risk factors  Ignore risk factors or
 (assessing family directly conflict with
functioning, disassociation research (i.e. peer
from deviant peers) contagion in residential
settings)

 Interventions are outside of
 Are behavioral in nature youth’s natural
and are community-based environment (residential
and work to address settings, courts, probation
problems where they occur offices, etc.) and fail to
(work, school, home) consider context of real
world

21

Effective Ineffective
 Well specified and  Absence of supportive
include intensive research, even with
support for intervention “systematic”
fidelity interventions

22

Conclusion
 Despite well established evidence of effective
services for juvenile offenders, the vast
majority of services provided either result in
increase criminal behavior or have not been
evaluated.

23

Evidence based practice for Juvenile Justice

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