| In their National Institute of Justice (NIJ) technical report, Breaking the Cycle of Drug Use Among Juvenile Delinquents, the authors proposed a comprehensive, systems-based drug treatment model which addressed the multiple needs of juvenile offenders throughout the juvenile justice process. Empirically-based components included: 1) a single point of entry for juveniles entering the juvenile justice system; 2) thorough screening and assessment; 3) cross-systems case management; 4) community-based, family-centered treatment services (e.g. Multi-Systemic Therapy); 5) court supervised (e.g. drug courts) graduated sanctions, including diversion programs (e.g. TASC); 6) community-based collaboration between systems; and, 7) ongoing aftercare services. This analysis examines community-level ImpacTeen data to determine which components of the intervention model are present in 193 sites across the nation. This information is then compared with the latest Bureau of Justice Statistics' State Court Processing System data on juvenile criminal histories and recidivism rates in a sample of these sites. It is hypothesized that communities which incorporate a larger number of intervention model components will experience lower juvenile re-arrest rates. Relationships between the intervention model and other state-level environmental variables such as age of adult status and presence of juvenile drug courts and diversion programs will also be explored. |
Updated 05/20/2006