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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:08 am
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Results for correctional program, juveniles
1 results foundAuthor: Casey, Sharon Title: Review of Programmes in Youth Training Centres. Part 1: Literature Review Summary: This report contains a detailed account of the published literature relevant to the delivery of effective programmes in youth training centres. This is important for several reasons: first it has been established that some programmes offered to offenders, even when delivered with the best of intentions, can work in opposite ways to those intended. In other words, some programmes increase, rather than decrease, the risk of a young person reoffending. The best examples of this comes from programmes like ‘Scared Straight’ (where young offenders are taken into adult prisons in an attempt to deter them from further offending), and boot camps (highly structured, physically challenging, residential programmes often run on paramilitary lines). Whilst significant efforts and resources have been allocated to the development and delivery of these types of programmes, evaluations have consistently shown that they do not produce the types of outcomes that they were intended to produce. In short, then, it is not always wise to trust our intuitions or personal beliefs about ’what works’ best for juvenile justice clients. Rather there is a need to evaluate different programmes against standard criteria, and base decisions about which programmes to offer on the basis of what can be shown to be the most effective. Indeed, this is the idea that underpins the notion of evidence based practice, and most health and justice organisations around the world would now subscribe to this approach to service delivery. That is not to say that programmes that have not been evaluated do not work, rather that we do not know whether they work. There is clearly an important role for development and pilot programmes, but these programmes should not form the basis for service delivery. By offering programmes that can be demonstrated to be effective, service providers become accountable to external agencies, young people and the community, and all stakeholders can have confidence in the quality of the services being offered. In this review, the evidence base underpinning effective programmes for young offenders is described. Evidence can come not only from programme evaluations, but also from theories about the causes of juvenile crime. Indeed researchers have shown that programmes that are based on a coherent theory are around six times more effective than programmes that are not. As such the first part of the review is dedicated to a review of different theories of crime. The focus here is on developmental theories of crime (that is, understanding how criminal behaviour changes as people grow older) as these are considered to be the most appropriate types of theory to guide programming decisions in youth justice. A number of different developmental theories are described, although there are many similarities between each of the theories. Each theory seeks to explain the way in which biological, individual, familial, social, and community and cultural factors interact with life events to create a situation where offending may occur. Such theories have led to the identification of both risk and protective factors for offending and how these may change at key transitional points (for example, starting school; moving from primary to high school; leaving school). This work is important as it suggests, theoretically, that if programmes and services can either reduce the number of (or intensity of) risk factors, or increase the number of protective factors, then they are likely to be effective in reducing the probability of a young person offending. In other words the theories offers important suggestions about what programmes should aim to change. There is now a reasonable body of evaluation research documenting the outcomes of a range of different types of programmes with young offenders. At the same time there are still many gaps in the literature – some of the research is conducted with older age groups (for example, young offenders are classified as from ages 15-21 years in some countries), and there is very little published research on effective programmes either for young women or for those who identify as from indigenous cultural backgrounds. However, evaluations have shown that programmes are more effective when they have certain characteristics, such as the types of person , the areas of functioning , and the methods used to bring about that change. For example, the most effective programmes are offered to those young people who are at the most risk of re-offending, address those areas of need that are most closely associated with the reasons why they offend (for example, substance use, associating with other offenders), and are delivered in ways that match the learning styles of adolescents (for example, structured and skills focussed). Perhaps unsurprisingly the most effective programmes are also delivered by highly trained staff who are well supported in their work. It is, however, clear that specialist programmes for juvenile offenders need to be developed such that they are age and developmentally appropriate. Programmes cannot simply be imported in from adult correctional settings. There is a limited research base from which to examine specific types of programmes, and in this review programmes for violent offenders, sexually aggressive offenders, and substance use are considered separately, along with the evidence for more generic programmes (such as cognitive skills and social skills programmes), programmes to improve family functioning (such as fostering programmes and multi-systemic therapy), and educational and vocational achievement. It is concluded that all of these programmes have an important role to play in any approach that seeks to meet the needs of youth justice clients. However, one programme is unlikely to meet all of the needs of a young person, and supplementary programmes targeting other areas (for example, health and education) also have an important role to play. Whilst this report is a review of the scientific and research literature, and has been written in an academic way that attempts to adequately describe the current knowledge base, the hope is that it will provide a stimulus for readers to think about how this evidence might inform their own practice. What is clear from this review is that the starting point for any review of programmes in the youth training centres has to be the theoretical and empirical evidence from Australia and internationally relating to what is currently known about what will work best for youth justice clients. In conclusion then, it is important for those involved in programme design and delivery to have some awareness of the literature reviewed in this report. Details: Adelaide: Guardian for Children and Young People, 2008. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 20, 2012 at: http://www.sapo.org.au/pub/pub10623.html Year: 2008 Country: International URL: http://www.sapo.org.au/pub/pub10623.html Shelf Number: 123691 Keywords: Correctional Program, JuvenilesJuvenile CorrectionsJuvenile OffendersYouth Training Centers |