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Treatment of juvenile offenders: Study outcomes since 1980
Author(s) -
Basta Joanna M.,
Davidson William S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2370060306
Subject(s) - recidivism , juvenile delinquency , strengths and weaknesses , juvenile , random assignment , psychology , sample size determination , applied psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , statistics , pathology , biology , genetics , mathematics
Abstract Past reviews of the treatment of juvenile offenders have concluded that “nothing works.” More recently, some reviewers have concluded that treatment concepts are not necessarily ineffective, but, instead, research methodology and treatment integrity have been inadequate. The present review looks at the treatment of adjudicated juvenile offenders from a computer‐data‐based search of the literature published from 1980 to 1987. Research outcome and methodology are summarized and critiqued. The conclusions are that treatment outcomes were positive, but that serious methodological weaknesses still exist in the literature. Improvements still need to be made in sample sizes, use of appropriate and multiple measures of recidivism, random assignment and/or use of appropriate control groups, and long‐term follow‐up assessment.