Evaluating the Violence Prevention Program: group and individual changes in aggression,anger, self-control,and empathy

While youth violence reduction program is a necessity to prevent long-term criminal and violent offending, its effectiveness in youth violent offenders is not well researched. This study investigated the effectiveness of the Violence Prevention Program (VPP) in addressing the aggression, anger, self-control, and empathy of youth violent offenders. One hundred and seventy youths (mean age 15.8 years) who completed VPP from 2008 to 2014 completed self-report measures on study outcomes both before and after the intervention. Repeated measures analyses revealed significant improvement in youths’ anger, aggression, and self-control at post-treatment, but changes in youths’ empathy were not significant. Subsequent analysis found that only youths with lower empathy scores at pre-treatment showed significant increase in empathy post-treatment. Overall, the results suggest that VPP can reduce aggression and mitigate the criminogenic needs of youth offenders. But its effect on empathy may be contingent on youths’ pre-treatment profiles. Limitations and implications for future studies are discussed.     

An Exploratory Study of the Characteristics that Prevent Youth from Completing a Family Violence Diversion Program

Youth perpetrated violence against a family member has gained the attention of social service workers and law enforcement, yet professionals working with these youth have little understanding of the characteristics of the population that would impede intervention success. This article presents an exploratory study of youth (N?=?209; 50 % males and 50 % females, average age 15.7 years) who participated in a court-diversion program for first time offenders of family violence and examined socio-demographic and delinquency characteristics and the role they play in completing the program. Findings indicate that delinquency characteristics, specifically having a prior violent arrest and skipping school, carry significance in preventing youth from successfully completing the Family Violence Intervention Program. These findings lend support to the current literature and address the need for a more tailored approach to treating and retaining youth in a family violence intervention program.     

Community organization and gang policy response

Analysis of agency response networks in 21 urban areas reveals that the adoption of policy responses is significantly related to social network location. In the 1988 National Youth Gang Intervention and Suppression Program survey, agency representatives were asked to list agencies with which regular contact was maintained in the process of dealing with the youth gang problem. Policy response is measured by the adoption of four policy responses: (1) making staff training available, (2) having a policy for dealing with youth gang problems, (3) having a policy in writing, and (4) attempting to influence legislation on the youth gang problem. Rasch modeling supports the scalability of the four items. The STRUCTURE program is used to identify elements of network structure within each community-specifically cliques and equivalence structures. A generalized linear model analysis of variance of the policy response scale reveals that structural equivalence and clique membership account for 54% of the variation in policy response. An examination of clique means indicates that network structure may retard as well as enhance policy response adaptations. In policy terms, this finding suggests that network structure should be mobilized by those who wish to develop a unified, national-level response to youth gang problems at the local level.     

Gang affiliation,aggression, and violent offending in a sample of youth offenders

Abstract

Gang affiliation, aggression, and violent offending were examined in case files of 390 youth offenders aged between 16 and 18 years. Results indicated that youth offenders who were gang members and those who were not gang members but exposed to friends in gangs had a significantly higher likelihood of violent offending compared with a reference group of youth offenders who had neither gang affiliation nor friends in gangs. Additionally, youth offenders who had friends in gangs but were themselves not gang members had a lower likelihood of violent offending than youth offenders who were gang members. Finally, results showed that a history of aggressive behavior was significantly associated with violent offending. Implications such as the need to address the influence of delinquent peers and need to address the management of anger and aggression in youths will be discussed. Also, findings point towards the need for prevention and early intervention work.     

Correlates of handgun carrying among adolescents in the United States

Weapon-related violence, especially the use of handguns, among adolescents is a serious public health concern. Using public-use data file from the adolescent sample (N = 17,842) in the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this study examines the behavioral, parental involvement, and prevention correlates of handgun carrying. Overall, 3.1% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 reported carrying a handgun in the past year. Results from a series of logistic regression models indicated that males, selling and using illicit drugs, were robustly associated with an increased probability of handgun carrying among adolescents. Furthermore, youth who carry handguns were significantly less likely to report a parent being involved in their lives and were significantly more likely to have encountered violence and drug prevention programming compared with youth who did not carry handguns. Implications of these results for prevention and policy are discussed.     

Finding hidden value through mixed-methodology: Lessons From the Discovery Program’s Holistic Approach to Truancy Abatement

Policy makers often bemoan the shortcomings and inefficiency of youth development and similar social work programs whose effectiveness cannot be demonstrated by quantifiable performance indicators. This study argues, through illustration of the Odyssey Learning Center’s Discovery Program (an alternative school serving rural Southern youth in an abject poverty context), that program value can only be evidenced through a mixed-methodological evaluation design. Reasons precluding traditional statistical analysis and effectiveness determinations are discussed and alternative conceptualizations of program value are considered. This research was funded from Federal Grant Number 2002-JE-FX-0034 from the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention through the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs. Points of view or opinions stated are those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent the opinion or official position of the United States Department of Justice or the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.     

Youth Resilience: Can Schools Enhance Youth Factors for Hope,Optimism, and Success?

Resilience research requires attention to the factors that promote youth development and success. Youth success is associated with youth having adults in their lives who care about them and set high expectations for them to succeed; oftentimes these adults are presumed to be the children's parents. Because youth spend a great deal of time in schools, school settings may be a place where youth resilience can be fostered. In 2004, 6th-grade youth in 5 schools in Maricopa County, Arizona, were surveyed to determine if they had factors to promote their resilience. In these schools, teachers had been trained by an agency called Kids at Hope. Kids at Hope presupposes that “all children are capable of success, no exceptions” and offers an alternative paradigm to kids at risk. The results of this research show that youth who believe that they are successful and who are optimistic about themselves and their schools are more likely to find their schools to be places where they can be successful and optimistic.     

Evaluating the utility of ‘strength’ items when assessing the risk of young offenders

There is emerging recognition that positive or pro-social characteristics may lessen criminal propensity. There are now several adult and youth forensic instruments that include protective or strength components. Yet evidence supporting the protective capacities of these instruments with youth offending populations is still developing. This study aimed to identity the prevalence of strength items on the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory tool, and their relationships with risk and re-offending for a cohort of 212 multi-cultural Australian juveniles in custody. The prevalence of strengths in the sample was low, and differed by cultural group. Young people who possessed a strength yielded lower instrument total and domain scores and were more likely to be afforded a lower level of risk compared to youth without a strength. Moreover, youth who possessed a strength were significantly more likely to desist from re-offending. This association remained after controlling for level of risk. Findings point to the importance of strengths when assessing a young person’s risk for re-offending.     

Differences among sexually abused and nonabused youth living with HIV

Risk behaviors were compared between sexually abused and nonabused youth living with HIV (YLH). Abused YLH were significantly more likely to have attempted suicide, to have been admitted into an alcohol and/or drug treatment program, and to have engaged in crack cocaine use than were nonabused YLH and had a greater number of sexual partners. A significantly higher proportion of abused YLH had been incarcerated in contrast to nonabused youth. There were also significantly greater conduct problems among abused YLH. Finally, abused YLH had significantly higher scores on positive action and social-support coping styles than nonabused youth. Consistent with previous research, abused youth are at higher risk for a variety of negative outcomes and are also similar in many respects to sexually abused youth who are not HIV-positive. The high frequencies of two positive styles of coping among abused YLH were also observed.     

Assessing the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency: An Evaluation of a Court‐Based Delinquency Prevention Program

In 2002, the State of Ohio mandated juvenile courts to provide prevention for at‐risk youth. This study examined official court records to evaluate the effectiveness of a prevention program administered by the Greene County Juvenile Court. A sample of 362 youth referred to the program for the years 2002 to 2009 by concerned caretakers, teachers, and police was analyzed. Consistent with intake goals, 81.7% of clients were referred for at‐risk but not actually delinquent behaviors. Completion of the prevention program did not predict future court referrals, but neither did seriousness of referral behavior. Children with two biological parents were significantly more likely to complete the program, whereas referrals to Strengthening Families Program and substance abuse screening significantly predicted program noncompletion. Implications for policy and research are discussed.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• This article highlights efforts by county juvenile court to implement a secondary prevention program for at‐risk but not officially court‐referred youth.
• Delinquency prevention research depends on good juvenile court data and adequate comparison groups.
• Evidence‐based predelinquent interventions with external process and outcome evaluations should be the standard.

     

The impact of after‐school programs on the routine activities of middle‐school students: Results from a randomized,controlled trial*

Research Summary Unsupervised after‐school time for adolescents is a concern for parents and policymakers alike. Evidence linking unsupervised adolescent socializing to problem behavior outcomes heightens this concern among criminologists. Routine activities theory suggests that, when youth peer groups congregate away from adult authority, both opportunity for and motivation to engage in deviant acts increase. After‐school programs are a possible solution to unsupervised teen socializing during afternoon hours and are much in demand. However, empirical research has yet to test the relationship between the availability of after‐school programs and youth routine activities. This study presents evidence from a multisite, randomized, controlled trial of an after‐school program for middle‐school students in an urban school district. Policy Implications Youth in the treatment group engaged in less unsupervised socializing after school than youth in the control group but not as much less as would be expected if the after‐school program was providing consistent supervision to youth who would otherwise be unsupervised. Additional analyses examined why the influence of the after‐school program was not more pronounced. We found that, although program attendance was related to decreases in unsupervised socializing, the program did not attract many delinquency‐prone youths who were unsupervised, which suggests that the students most in need of the program did not benefit. Furthermore, data obtained from a mid‐year activity survey revealed that youth in the study were highly engaged in a variety of after‐school activities. The addition of the after‐school program into the mixture of available activities had little effect on the frequency with which students participated in organized activities after school.     

Juvenile delinquency and victimization: a theoretical typology

It is a widely voiced notion that juvenile delinquency and victimization co-occur extensively in the youth population, in particular because delinquent youth engage in risky activities. But theory from the bullying and traumatic stress literatures suggests that there may be additional pathways by which delinquency and victimization are connected. This analysis looks for possible subtypes of delinquents and victims consistent with such pathways. Using the Developmental Victimization Survey, a national sample of 1,000 youth aged 10 to 17 were interviewed over the phone. Support emerges for three distinct types of delinquent-victims, who are termed bully-victims, delinquent sex/maltreatment- victims, and property delinquent-victims. There is also evidence for substantial groups of youth who are primarily delinquent but not seriously victimized, as well as youth who are primarily victimized but not delinquent.     

Comparing the Effects of Treatment on Female Juvenile Gang and Non-Gang Members

Abstract

Most research indicates that males comprise the greatest proportion of gang members. Since the 1990s, however, there has been an increasing interest in female gangs and gang members. The current study builds on this research interest by examining differences between female gang members and non-gang members who participated in a juvenile probation program designed to identify and intervene with youth considered to be high risk for subsequent criminal and delinquent activity. The results of a logistic regression analysis revealed that two factors significantly influenced a female offender's likelihood of being rearrested: she did not complete the program, and she did not live with her natural parent(s). We conclude that the significant results do support findings from previous research in this area; we also discuss possible explanations as to why other factors were not significantly related to rearrests.     

Preventing juvenile sexual offending through parental monitoring: a comparison study of youth’s experiences of supervision

ABSTRACT

The parental monitoring literature has long observed a link between parental monitoring and juvenile antisocial behaviour. This study extends this line of research to juveniles who commit sexual abuse. The present study investigates whether juvenile reports of parental monitoring differ between juvenile sexual offenders (n?=?338), juvenile delinquents (n?=?346), and non-incarcerated juvenile controls (n?=?256). Results indicate that both incarcerated groups reported significantly less parental knowledge compared to juvenile controls. Further, both juvenile sexual offenders and juvenile controls reported significantly more parental control compared to juvenile delinquents. With regard to parental solicitation, the results were mixed for sexual offenders. They reported high levels of solicitation for some items (e.g. what the youth was doing, who they were with), and lower levels for other items (e.g. where the youth was, whether an adult would be present). When repeating these analyses with the exclusion of non-parent caregivers, a similar pattern of results emerged; however, item-level analyses revealed that parents of juvenile delinquents reported certain types of solicitation and control behaviours more frequently (e.g. asked where the youth was going, made sure the rules were followed) compared to findings from the main sample. Potential explanations for these findings as well as practical implications for prevention are discussed.     

The Use of Citizen Review Boards with Juvenile Offender Cases: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Pilot Program

This study evaluates a Citizen Review Board (CRB) program designed to review juvenile offender cases. The sample includes 157 juvenile offenders that were first‐time adjudicated offenders. The youth were randomly assigned by the juvenile judge either to receive review by the CRB or go through the regular court process. Sixty‐eight of the youth were reviewed by the CRB and 89 made up the control group. Data were collected on both groups for more than three years. Program outcomes examined for the study included court processing time, placement and treatment facility changes, and re‐offense rates. Findings suggest that the youth served by the CRB program had statistically fewer out‐of‐home placements in treatment programs during the course of the study and more time had elapsed between the date of the original offense and the re‐offense for youth reviewed by the CRB. The rise in the number of juvenile offenders going through the nation's court systems, as well as a rise in the number of citizen review boards, indicate a need for further examination about how CRBs can best serve the juvenile court system and the youth served by that system.     

Serious Youth Gun Offenders and the Epidemic of Youth Violence in Boston

Boston, like many other major cities, experienced a sudden increase in youth homicides during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Research evidence suggests that the recent epidemic of urban youth violence was intensely concentrated among criminally active young black males residing in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods rather than all young black males residing in disadvantaged black neighborhoods. Other researchers, however, suggest that there was a diffusion of guns and gun violence from youth involved in street crack markets to youth outside the drug trade who armed themselves primarily for self-protection against the armed criminally active youth. In this paper, criminal history data are analyzed to determine whether the criminal profile of Boston arrested youth gun offenders changed over time and micro-level data on youth gun assault incidents in Boston are examined to unravel whether there were noteworthy changes in the nature of these violent events over time. The results of these analyses suggest that the youth violence epidemic in Boston was highly concentrated among serious youth gun offenders rather than a diffusion of guns away from the street drug trade, gangs, and criminally active youth.     

Doing gang research in Canada: navigating a different kaleidoscope

Interest in youth gang activities in Canada has engendered an increasing engagement by government institutions and police departments of American ‘gang experts’ who supposedly have a long pedigree in dealing with this type of problem. I argue that: (a) considering the lingering contentions over the nature, structure, and organization of gangs generally, Canada does not stand to benefit significantly from the American ‘gang’ experience; and (b) the focus of contemporary American gang literature on minority youths helps to sustain the stereotype and control of racialized youths as the ‘poster boys’ of urban youth violence. This is in line with research showing that ‘expert’ knowledge has historically been used to support the ‘othering’ and control of marginalized populations. Canadian youth gang policy does not need to borrow from this model, as it will unnecessarily exacerbate racial tensions in the country.     

Specifying the role of exposure to violence and violent behavior on initiation of gun carrying: a longitudinal test of three models of youth gun carrying

Two waves of longitudinal data from 1,049 African American youth living in extreme poverty are used to examine the impact of exposure to violence (Time 1) and violent behavior (Time 1) on first time gun carrying (Time 2). Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that (a) violent behavior (Time 1) increased the likelihood of initiation of gun carrying (Time 2) by 76% after controlling for exposure to violence at Time 1, which is consistent with the stepping stone model of youth gun carrying, and (b) youth who were both exposed to violence at Time 1 and engaged in violent behavior at Time 1 were more than 2.5 times more likely to initiate gun carrying at Time 2 compared to youth who had neither of these characteristics, which supports the cumulative risk model of youth gun carrying. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in clarifying the role of violence in the community on youth gun carrying and the primary prevention of youth gun violence.     

How Collaborative the Collaboration? Assessing Interagency Collaboration within a Juvenile Court Diversion Program

Juvenile delinquency with co‐occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders has become an increasing problem within the United States. In part this can be attributed to the excessive number of delinquent youth entering the juvenile justice system with untreated substance abuse and/or mental health disorders. In an effort to combat this problem, interagency collaborations have been formed to provide more effective treatment services. One such interagency collaboration is the JETS Program. This study identifies the strengths and limitations of establishing an interagency collaboration within the first year of a juvenile treatment court's inception.     

Peer influences on the dating aggression process among Brazilian street youth: a brief report

This study explored risk factors for adolescent dating aggression (ADA) among Brazilian street youth. Forty-three adolescents, between the ages of 13 and 17 years, were recruited at services centers in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Simultaneous multiple regression revealed that ADA was significantly predicted by adolescent dating victimization (ADV), and that this relationship was moderated by peer involvement in dating aggression. Results also revealed that peer involvement in dating aggression did not significantly predict ADA. These findings suggested that having peers who are involved in dating aggression exacerbates the effects of dating victimization on ADA among Brazilian street youth. However, ADV might be a stronger risk factor for dating aggression in this population, because when controlling for the effects of victimization in dating conflicts peer abuse toward romantic partners did not uniquely contribute to ADA.