Improving the effectiveness of juvenile justice programmes: A new perspective on evidence-based practices. Mark W. Lipsey, et. al, (2010). Washington, DC: Georgetown University. Public Policy Institute. Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. [EN]
From the paper by Mark W. Lipsey, et. al: Juvenile justice systems in the United States have long struggled with the inherent tension between their role in meting out punishment for violations of law and their role as an authoritative force for bringing about constructive behavior change in the wayward youth who commit those violations. Our view is that the overarching and intertwined goals of juvenile justice should be ensuring public safety—protecting the public from any additional harm caused by juvenile offenders—and altering the life trajectories of those juveniles to not only reduce further criminal behavior but to improve their chances to prosper as productive citizens. Attaining those goals requires the capability to control behavior in the short term and the means to induce self-sustaining behavior change that will persist after youth are no longer under court supervision.
Juvenile justice systems have longstanding methods for controlling behavior, such as community supervision and custodial care, though these are not always used as efficiently and effectively as possible. Effective programming to reduce recidivism and produce other positive outcomes, however, has been more problematic. Juvenile justice systems make use of many treatment programs, but, in most cases, the effectiveness of those programs is difficult to determine and largely unknown. An increasing body of research evidence addresses this problem, but the findings of that research have not been well integrated into most juvenile justice systems. Translation of research into practice is always a challenge, but it has been exacerbated in this instance by overly narrow conceptions of how research should be used to inform juvenile justice practice.
This paper introduces a framework for major juvenile justice system reform—the integration of a forward-looking administrative model with evidence-based programming. The administrative model is organized around risk management and risk reduction aimed at protecting the public by minimizing recidivism. Evidence-based programming is organized around services that moderate criminogenic risk factors and enhance adaptive functioning for the treated offenders. Placements are guided by a disposition matrix that supports individualized disposition plans and is organized around the risk levels and treatment needs of offenders as assessed by empirically validated instruments. An array of effective programs is supported that provides sufficient diversity to allow matching with offenders’ needs. This array of programs is integrated with a continuum of graduated levels of supervision and control so that offenders can be stepped up the ladder and placed in more highly structured program environments if behavior worsens and stepped down when there is improvement. Such a system is consistently forward-looking in basing program placements and supervision levels upon objective risk and needs assessments and in constructing case management plans focused on improving future behavior rather than punishing past behavior.
Download, "Improving the effectiveness of juvenile justice programmes: A new perspective on evidence-based practices." Mark W. Lipsey, et. al, (2010). Washington, DC: Georgetown University. Public Policy Institute. Center for Juvenile Justice Reform.
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