| Many responses to the problem of juvenile crime surround the use of interventions. As Gendreau and Ross (1979) discussed, one factor contributing to the difference between programs that "work" and those that do not is the conceptualization of criminal behavior on which the program is based. The conceptual model of criminal behavior determines the goals of the intervention and the mediating factors on which the program should focus. The model also serves to guide program planners and practitioners in terms of the techniques they should employ to reduce juvenile crime (Martin, Sechrest & Redner, 1981). The proposed paper focuses on two such models: the medical model and the socio/ecological model. The medical model holds the view that delinquent behavior is a function of some underlying deficit within the individual that requires a "cure" through some type of intervention or treatment (Izzo & Ross, 1990). By contrast, in the socio/ecological model the predominate focus of change is the individual's environment. The purpose of the proposed resarch is to provide a quantitative integration of the findings of individual studies on the effectiveness of interventions with officially delinquent youth using meta-analysis. Specially, the efficacy of the medical model approach versus the socio/ecological approach will be presented. |
Updated 05/20/2006