Is it me, or does this look like a juvenile justice drive-thru window? Can we get fries with that? Or cupcakes? Yeah, gimme a side order of cupcakes. Image: CrimeDime
Despite the fact that ‘evidence-based’ and ‘proven best practice’ are buzzwords more popular than sprinkles on cupcakes these days, it’s still hard to figure out what really works when it comes to programs for juvenile offenders.
In an article based on research sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Dan Mears et al. suggest that determining sentence efficacy is more difficult than beating Georgetown Cupcakes in a bake-off. What? You gotta problem wit cupcakes or sumtin?
Mears and his colleagues list six reasons.
First, there is no established set of criteria for how different juvenile justice sanctions and various court-ordered programs and interventions should be classified.
Second, new types of sanctioning approaches, including particular programs or interventions, often evolve in contexts that themselves may account for an identified effect rather than the sanction itself.
Third, the external validity of many sanctions, including those examined in leading meta-analyses and reviews, remains largely unknown. There is limited empirical evidence regarding the impact of various interventions on diverse offender populations in diverse settings in association with diverse outcomes.
Fourth, evidence regarding the internal validity of sanctions does not objectively represent social scientific consensus.
Fifth, evidence on the effects of various sanctions on a diverse set of outcomes is rare.
Sixth, few rigorous studies have examined the relative effectiveness of various incarceration sanctions compared to specific non-custodial sanctions.
So, in short? We aren’t doing a very good job of applying the scientific method to the juvenile justice system. I’m just not even going to pretend to be shocked. We’re still doing what “feels” right rather than seeking out, building, and verifying solutions through a systematic, research-based process of discovery.
Maybe someday.
Just like, maybe someday, they’ll make cupcakes with no calories. Mmmmmm, someday…
Related articles:
- Crossover Youth: When Child Victims Enter the Juvenile Justice System (crimedime.com)
- Is it OK to Polygraph Juveniles? (crimedime.com)
- Eighth Amendment prohibits mandatory life without parole for juveniles (scotusblog.com)
- What Do We Know About Gangs? (crimedime.com)
- Cuffing Kids: How Young is Too Young? (crimedime.com)
Valentine Logar
July 2, 2012
Being both a victim of violent crime where the offenders were juveniles at the time of the offense and a volunteer in a program that reaches into the Juvenile system it is obvious we don’t have answers. The problem, in my mind, we also don’t address some of the underlying issues including the poverty, education, opportunity and generational sharing the yard. We now have three generations affected by the War on Drugs, three generations sharing the yards of our state and federal prisons. Until we address this we can’t address the inherent problems within the juvenile system itself.
jessicawritesnow
July 2, 2012
This is an introduction to our children who need attention and cry out in sick and twisted ways ( most of them emulated the behavior of adults they observed who-ahem received attention, but to the kids it’s better than what is available inside their family “institution”.) My point being that the institutions of family, marriage, education, employment, criminal justice, juvenile detention, mental health, elderly care homes, higher education, Religion esp., military, etc– all of them nobody takes the time to think though and the government, as things like Wall Street collapsed (Institution) or debt soared above the all American ideal our insufficient knowledge only allowed for damage control. A country built on tradition or “institutions” will die. In my estimate, the government compartmentalized its citizens followed by a failure to understand them. Children, who has time for them in the legal system to know why they are so angry–full of rage that turned into burned out apathy–that they unloaded weapons on class mates. I’m only 38, I can assure you it did not happen in my time. People dismiss kids–but children want guidance until you make them feel unworthy.
Institutions are not the answer: or else our population would be improving its health. Man with just Pelican Bay, think of the rehabilitation. NO INSTITUTIONS SUCK. IT’S LIKE GIVING AN INFANT ONLY ONE CAN OF RED BULL FOR A MONTH NOTHING ELSE. the infant will be bug eyed, but like a skeleton due to no nutrients. RED BULL=INSTITUTIONS.
Louise Behiel
July 2, 2012
it’s fascinating to me that domestic violence and child abuse is still rampant. we just don’t apply what we’ve learned about these issues. but in truth, most of us never read a parenting book before we have kids and very few of us look at our rotten parents and make a choice to do healthy parenting. rather we either do the same thing our folks did or the opposite. neither give the expected results.
and as for domestic violence…when is that going to stop? it’s all connected but I don’tknow how to fix it. I just see the problems.
Louise Behiel
July 2, 2012
did you see this article? rather interesting I thought http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/rage+psychiatrists+battle+over+teen+diagnosis/6872906/story.html
claudiagrant
July 10, 2012
I’m studying evidence based offender programs in an intensive subject at the moment, mostly on Justice Reinvestment. It was really surprising to discover how many programs have been operating for years without proper evaluation and are not designed in a way to support evaluation.
It has cheered me some what though, this new trend towards evaluation as people are often doubtful about my job prospects in a niche course (criminology), I think there is pleeeenty of work for researchers and evaluators. And that’s just looking at corrections!