Family Drug Treatment Courts As Comprehensive Service Models: Cost Considerations

Literature on family drug treatment courts (FDTCs) suggests that parental participation in these courts is associated with improved substance abuse treatment and child welfare system outcomes. Despite these beneficial outcomes, FDTCs serve only 7‐10% of eligible child welfare involved families. As part of a FDTC evaluation, this FDTC site sought to provide stakeholders with information about costs and benefits. Considering the program costs alongside the cost avoidance from reduced time in foster care, this analysis determined that FDTC participation resulted in a net savings per child of $9,710. The cost component of the evaluation proved valuable, challenging, and informative.     

Popular post-separation parenting smartphone apps: An evaluation

In recent years a bewildering array of smartphone applications (“apps”) has emerged to support separated parents' communication. Post-separation parenting apps vary in cost and features; they typically comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker and a means to export records for legal purposes. A key challenge for separated parents and family law practitioners alike is knowing which apps or app feature(s) can work well for different family contexts, needs and budgets. The present study sought to evaluate nine popular post-separation parenting apps and their features using small-n Human–Computer Interaction methods. Mediators role-played high conflict ex-couples while completing a set of five common post-separation communication or organizational tasks. A cross-case analysis of ratings was conducted. We found that (a) many of the mediators changed their apparent enthusiasm for co-parenting apps once they had used the apps themselves; (b) all nine apps were rated somewhere between “Poor” to Fair’; and (c) features of some of the best-known apps were not rated as highly as some of the features of more recent, lesser-known apps.     

A psychometric evaluation of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 in a UK forensic patient population

Psychological defence mechanisms have been considered important personality processes in the onset, maintenance and recovery of mental disorders. More recently, their application to understanding presenting problems and as potential outcome indicators for forensic patients has been recommended. However, to date there have been no investigations into the reliability and factor structure of defence mechanism assessments for this population. The current study investigated the factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Defence Style Questionnaire-40 (DSQ) for 160 adult male UK forensic patients. The three-factor model of defences proposed by the DSQ-40 developers was not confirmed in the study sample. Reliability indices of the three factors indicated that the Immature factor was the most ‘acceptable’ in terms of internal consistency. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from .70 to .91. A revised three-factor structure that closely corresponds to the original validation study is recommended following an exploratory factor analysis. The findings are compared with previous reliability and factor analytic evaluations of the DSQ-40, and recommendations for its use with forensic patients are discussed.     

A comparison of curfew and noncurfew violators using a self-report delinquency survey

The present study examines one city’s experience with a juvenile curfew ordinance. It compares characteristics of youths detained by the police for curfew violation with teenagers who did not have such police contact. Selfreport data reveal curfew violators admit committing more minor and serious delinquency, as well as status offenses, than noncurfew violators. Curfew violators also disclose higher victimization levels. Implications deriving from these observations are discussed.     

An uneven playing field: The impact of strain and coping skills on treatment outcomes for juvenile offenders

Purpose

This study examines the experiences of a group of drug-abusing juvenile offenders following their release from a residential treatment facility in order to determine how pre-existing levels of strain and coping skills affect their ability to benefit from the treatment program and avoid recidivism and relapse.

Methods

During an extensive pre-treatment interview, the youths were asked a variety of questions assessing potential sources of strain (including the experience of physical/emotional abuse and intra-familial violence, parental drug use, and physical/emotional health problems) and a variety of coping (cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual) skills. We hypothesized that pre-existing strain levels would decrease the likelihood of treatment success just as pre-existing coping skills levels would enhance it, but also predicted that the impact of strain on treatment success would be moderated by existing coping skills and that coping skills would have the greatest capacity to affect treatment outcomes among youths with higher levels of pre-treatment strain.

Results

Our findings offered mixed support for our hypotheses, including evidence that some coping skills mitigated the negative impact of strain whereas others seemed to intensify it. Implications of our findings are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.     

Rethinking Prison Disciplinary Processes: A Potential Future for Restorative Justice

Abstract

The movement for restorative justice (RJ) has struggled with marginalization on the soft end of the criminal justice system where the threat of net widening and iatrogenesis looms large. To realize the full potential of RJ as an alternative philosophy of justice, restorative practices need to expand beyond the world of adolescent and small-level offenses into the deeper end of the justice system. Disciplinary hearings inside of adult prisons may be a strategic space to advance this expansion. This article presents findings from a study of prison discipline in four U.K. prisons. The findings strongly suggest that in their current form such disciplinary proceedings are viewed by prisoners as lacking in legitimacy. Although modeled after the adversarial system of the criminal court, the adjudications were instead universally derided as “kangaroo courts” lacking the basic elements of procedural justice. Based on these findings, we argue that RJ interventions may offer a viable redress to these problems of legitimacy which, if successful, would have ramifications that extend well beyond the prison walls.     

Physiological Self-Regulation Buffers the Relationship between Impulsivity and Externalizing Behaviors among Nonclinical Adolescents

Trait impulsivity is a risk factor for rule breaking and aggressive (externalizing) behaviors among nonclinical youth. Buffers of trait-based risk are of practical interest to preventing externalizing behaviors. One such buffer may be the capacity and efforts of a child to self-regulate their physiology. Youth who possess baseline physiological self-regulatory capacities are more likely to maintain adaptive engagement with their environment and may be less prone to impulsively rule break or be aggressive. Similarly, youth who are able to use self-regulatory skills to calm their physiology in times of stress may be less likely to externalize distress. This study examined self-regulatory capacity and efforts as a moderator of the relationship between trait impulsivity and externalizing behaviors, cross-sectionally and prospectively. We hypothesized that the effect of trait impulsivity on externalizing behaviors would depend on the presence of baseline self-regulatory capacity and/or self-regulatory efforts during stress. Participants were 134 nonclinical adolescents (M_age?=?12.59, SD?=?1.20 51.9% female, 71% Caucasian). Trait impulsivity was measured using a parental report questionnaire. Physiological self-regulatory capacity and efforts were measured through collection of electrocardiogram data during a resting baseline and a stressful, unsolvable anagram task, respectively. Physiological self-regulation was quantified by calculating respiratory sinus arrhythmia scores across baseline and stress tasks. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is the change in heart rate across the breathing cycle, and is hypothesized to index physiological self-regulation capacity and efforts under specific conditions. The results indicated that physiological self-regulation capacity, but not efforts, moderated the effect of trait impulsivity on externalizing behaviors prospectively. Stronger physiological self-regulatory capacity buffered the effect of greater trait impulsivity. Implications of these findings among typically developing youth are discussed.     

Planning and Animal Welfare Law: Considering Why Planning Authorities in the Republic of Ireland Should have Regard to Animal Welfare Laws as Part of the Planning Process

Liverpool Law Review - Animal welfare legislation routinely places obligations on owners of animals to take action to ensure that the welfare of the animal(s) is protected. Such legislation often...