Recidivism Abstract

This document summarizes the research on effective approaches for responding to juvenile crime. It finds that while scholars in the 1970s concluded that "nothing worked" for juvenile corrections, later meta-analyses found community-based programs run by private providers to be more effective than large custodial institutions. The most effective community programs have high intensity, multiple interventions, and structure. Recent evaluations also found boot camps and probation to be ineffective for youth with multiple risk factors. Effective programs require evaluation of outcomes like recidivism rates to determine what works for different youth.