Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DOI 10.1007/s11126-014-9296-4
ORIGINAL PAPER
Abstract In the last three decades there has been ample research to demonstrate that
instituting Multisystemic Therapy for serious juvenile offenders, keeping them in the
community with intensive intervention, can significantly reduce recidivism. When there is
recidivism, it is less severe than in released incarcerated juveniles. Multisystemic Therapy
provides 24 h available parental guidance, family therapy, individual therapy, group
therapy, educational support and quite importantly a change of peer group. In New York
City, there is the new mandate through the Juvenile Justice Initiative to implement
interventions to keep juvenile offenders in the community rather than sending them to be
incarcerated. However, this paper aims to examine how teaching prosocial values in early
childhood can reduce the incidence of first-time juvenile delinquency. Programs such as
the Perry School Project will be discussed to demonstrate that although somewhat
expensive, these innovative programs nonetheless are quite cost-effective as the cost to
society of adjudication, incarceration and victim damages are significantly greater. Along
with teaching prosocial 0020 values, there has been renewed interest in early identification
of youth at risk for developing Antisocial Personality Disorder. An update is given on the
status of both promising approaches in early intervention to prevent serious juvenile
delinquency and hence adult criminality.
Keywords Juvenile delinquency Multisystemic Therapy Perry preschool
project Early childhood intervention programs
J. May
Hofstra NSLIJ School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA
K. Osmond
Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
S. Billick (&)
NYU School of Medicine, 901 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA
e-mail: Stephen@billick.com
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Restorative Justice
In an article by Bergseth and Bouffard, these researchers explain another type of treatment
for juvenile delinquents, called Restorative Justice (RJ) [2]. RJ lies in the middle of two
competing theories for juvenile delinquent treatment, which are punishment and restoration. One of this programs main goals is to restore justice to the victim as well as the
community. Crimes committed by the juvenile delinquent are revisited, and many times the
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victim must be confronted. This structure does do some therapeutic work for the juvenile
delinquent; including taking responsibility for the wrongs they have committed, and
learning how to be held accountable. However, as documented below, when RJ is compared to Multisystemic Therapy (MST), RJ is one-dimensional. The duration of this
program is very short, with each participant receiving at least one session with a program
facilitator. Consequently, the juvenile delinquent learns much less about becoming prosocial in this short time frame. RJ only involves one factor of the delinquents life, which is
their crime. RJ had a large focus on the victim, which may be an important aspect, but is
certainly not the only factor requiring being addressed in understanding the complexity of
delinquent behavior. One of the critical complaints of RJ is that it may not significantly
decrease juvenile delinquent recidivism rates for all types of offenders. Analysis revealed
that the RJ program only yields a significant reduction in future criminality amongst male,
first-time offenders who were under the age of 14. Bergseth and Bouffard state that the
younger age that the delinquents are when referred to and treated with RJ, the longer the
time frame will be before reoffending. However, when it comes to more serious offenders,
who are generally older juveniles who have committed more serious crimes, RJ may not be
as successful in producing change in the juvenile delinquents themselves. Thus, more
lengthy treatment programs which address more dysfunctional aspects of the juvenile
delinquents life are essential when treating juvenile delinquency. However, research
shows that RJ is better than detention.
Scared Straight
Scared Straight represents a distinct contrast to the previously mentioned intervention
programs. Unlike the other programs, which strive to prevent the reoccurrence of delinquency through therapy and parental support, Scared Straight attempts to deter adolescents
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from initial delinquent behavior by exposing them to the harsh realities of life as a prison
inmate. The program hypothesized that these adolescents will be scared into leading a life
free from future criminal activity. The delinquent is brought to an adult prison, given tours,
and receives direct exposure and interpersonal interactions with currently convicted felons.
However, from a meta-analysis of the current literature concerning the effects of Scared
Straight on juvenile delinquency [9], concluded that programs of this nature do not successfully prevent future delinquency. Unfortunately, this exposure actually appears to
increase the likelihood of future criminal behavior.
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Start program were permitted to enroll in a non-Head Start childcare program or preschool,
which may or may not have offered some similar integrative experience for the child.
Another program, the Syracuse University Family Development Program featured 108
families and also featured high quality daycare and weekly home visits. However, unlike
the Perry Preschool Program model, parents were offered very early support beginning
prenatally and continuing into elementary school. Follow up was conducted at 13 and
16 years of age and yielded comparable results to the Perry Preschool Program, with a
significant reduction in future delinquency. At follow up only 6.2 % of program youths
were in probation versus 22 % of control participants. These results suggest that prenatal
care for families, especially for those with certain identified risks for juvenile delinquency
development such as low socioeconomic status, should prove advantageous. Unfortunately,
longer term follow up data has not yet been obtained to assess how the Syracuse project
may have affected adult criminality amongst the participant children.
Unlike the first two early intervention projects, The Yale Child Welfare Project represents a significantly smaller scale program. With only 17 families participating in the
study, each family received a personal team of professionals to assist, beginning during
the pregnancy and ending at 2.5 years of age. Families were paired with a pediatrician,
home visitor, childcare worker and developmental examiner to assist the parents
throughout the course of the program. When behavior was assessed at a 10 years follow up,
program children were depicted as well adjusted for school and male children exhibited
less antisocial behavior than their non-program counterparts [12].
Cost Effective Savings to Society with MST and Early Intervention Prevention
Programs
When comparing the cost to society, it has been shown that both MST and the Perry
Preschool Program yield substantial returns on the initial investment. According to Osher
et al. [8], the net program cost for MST was near $4,743 for each participant. However, this
investment eventually goes on to save taxpayers and crime victims $131,918 for each MST
participant. A similar projection is made with the Perry Preschool Program, which costs
$14,716 and yields $105,000 per participant in savings [8]. Results from the Syracuse
University Family Development Program found a heightened cost to the criminal justice
system for non-program participants. Based on data collected at their longer term follow
up, researchers found the costs totaled $186 per program participant versus $1,985 per
control individual. These programs represent a stark contrast to other intervention programs such as Scared Straight programs and juvenile boot camps, which yield respectively
a cost of $24,531 and $3,587 instead of providing a savings to society as did the previously
discussed programs [8].
A review of the literature shows that in the past there have been a variety of methods for
treating juvenile delinquency. However, it becomes apparent that only a select few are
successful at reducing recidivism and producing positive changes for society. MST has
become the research-documented gold standard for treating juvenile delinquents in a
highly cost effective manner. MST successfully reduces recidivism and the severity of
recidivism. However, the ultimate goal for society should be to prevent juvenile delinquency altogether. Studies, such as the Perry Preschool Program suggest that early intervention programs produce positive effects on reducing future delinquency and are highly
cost effective for society. By combining early education programs with support programs,
the Perry Preschool Program is able to target multiple risk factors, including antisocial
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behavior, for future delinquency. Therefore the Perry Preschool Program serves as the most
promising investment for reforming societys treatment of youth most at risk for delinquent
behavior.
References
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Years after Detention. Journal of Adolescent Health 44(6):528535, 2009.
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Jessica May, BA is a current first year medical student enrolled at Hofstra NSLIJ School of Medicine. She
has received her BA in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University.
Kristina Osmond, MSN is a practicing nurse at Mt. Sinai Medical Center working in the NICU.
Stephen Billick, MD is a child, adolescent and adult clinical and forensic psychiatrist currently practicing in
New York City. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine.
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