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Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Needs, Intervention Services, and Policy Implications. Leslie Leve and Patricia Chamberlain Oregon Social Learning Center & the Center for Research to Practice
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Girls in the Juvenile Justice System: Needs, Intervention Services, and Policy Implications Leslie Leve and Patricia Chamberlain Oregon Social Learning Center & the Center for Research to Practice Independence Day: Research, Resources, & Law Reform for Teens Transitioning out of State Programs University of Oregon School of Law, April 6, 2007
Services Policy Research
The Oregon Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Model (MTFC) • Objective: To change the negative trajectory of delinquent behavior by improving social adjustment with family members and peersthrough simultaneous and well-coordinated treatments in the youth’s natural environment: the home, school, & community. • Treatment is provided in a family setting where new skills can be practiced and reinforced.
Structure of MTFC • Targets youth being placed in group homes or training schools because of serious and chronic delinquency • Youth are placed singly in intensively trained and supervised community foster homes that are contacted daily and supported 24/7 • Youth receive family therapy, skills training and individual treatment • Program supervisors carry caseloads of 10. They supervise foster parents, therapists, & skills trainers and work with judges and parole/probation officers • Youth attend public schools
Critical Components of MTFC :Known Risk and Protective Factors • Provision of close supervision • Provision of consistent limits and consequences for rule violations and antisocial behavior (non-harsh discipline) • Minimization of influence of delinquent peers • Daily adult mentoring • Encouragement/reinforcement for normative appropriate behavior and attitudes • Youth’s parents increase skills at supervision, limit setting, reinforcement
Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Basic Approach • Facilitating a balance of encouragement and limit setting • Treatment team concept • Consistency across settings in which the youth exists
Program Staffing Structure Central Concept: Roles are stratified • Program Supervisor • Foster Parent Consultant • Youth Therapist/Skills Trainer • Family Therapist • ‘Parent Daily Report’ Caller • Consulting Psychiatrist
Implementation Sites • The UK • Sweden • Holland • The US • Over 40 sites, including 3 in Oregon (Eugene, Salem, and Portland)
The Oregon Juvenile Justice Girls Studies (Chamberlain & Leve) Funded by: National Institute of Mental Health (MH 46690); National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA 15208); Oregon Youth Authority Sample: Rolling recruitment of juvenile justice girls who have been referred by court judges in Lane County between 1996 – 2006 for out-of-home placement due to chronic delinquency.
Group Care (n = 93) 3- & 6-mo. in-placement assessment of mediating variables (ave. stay in treatment = 5 months) 12- & 24-mo. follow-up assessment of outcomes MTFC (n = 80) The Study Randomization and Assessment Process • Baseline assessment • Enter randomized • placement Each participant had at least one criminal offense Recruitment and assessment are ongoing. Final numbers will vary
JJ Girls: Family Chaos and Abuse • 17 transitions in parent figures (6 before age 13) • 2.4 prior out-of-home placements • 81% had at least one parent convicted of a crime • 93% have a history of documented physical or sexual abuse • 79% have witnessed domestic violence
JJ Girls: Behavioral & Health Risks • 12 average lifetime arrests (first at age 12 ½; 72% have at least 1 felony) • 50% have had a suicide attempt • 26% have been pregnant • 66% have used hard drug in last year (36% use hard drugs 1-7 times/week) • 78% are academically below grade/age level
Decrease in Arrest Rate over Time (in 12-month increments) Number of Arrests
Decrease in Days in Locked Settings over Time (in 12-month increments) Days in Locked Settings
Increase in Homework Completion at 12-months Days/week spent 30 min on hmwk
Increase in School Attendance at 12-months School Attendance Rates
JJ Girls Partners and Peers • The most common response to “who do you hang out with” is boys 2-4 years older, with nearly half the sample reporting that they hang out with boys 5+ years older • Girls’ partners are 2 ½ years older than the girl; 2/3 of the partners have been arrested previously and over one-third are hard drug users • These peer and partner characteristics are linked to girls’ health-risking sexual behaviors and drug use (Chamberlain & Reid, 1998; Eddy, Whaley, & Chamberlain, 2004)
MTFC Effects for Boys • More time in program/fewer runaways • Less time in “locked” incarceration in follow-up • Fewer criminal offenses (½ the rate of GC boys) • Less likely to commit violent crimes 2 years later (Chamberlain & Reid, 1998; Eddy, Whaley, & Chamberlain, 2004)
Which program components drive the positive results? Delinquency effects mediated by: • Supervision • Relationship with a mentoring adult • Consistent non-harsh discipline • Less association with delinquent peers • Homework completion (Eddy, Whaley, & Chamberlain, 2004; Leve & Chamberlain 2005; Leve & Chamberlain, 2007)
Implications for Policy: what can we do to prepare girls to exit JJ? • Prevention!Stabilization & permanancy in child welfare placements and educational supports • Prior to exit from JJ, implement treatment programs that mediate successful outcomes(supervision, mentoring adult, consistent discipline, non-deviant peers, homework) • Consider the consequences of aggregate care (and gender differences) • Consider extending JJ and CWS services beyond age 18 (mental health, drug&alcohol, sexual behavior, independent living) • Invest resources in adult caregivers and supports
For more information Email: Lesliel@oslc.orgorPattic@oslc.org Related web address: MTFC program: http://www.mtfc.com/index.html OSLC: http://www.oslc.org Ctr for Research to Practice: http://www.cr2p.org OR Youth Authority: http://www.oregon.gov/OYA/ Disclosure: Patricia Chamberlain is one of the owners of TFC Consultants Inc which disseminates MTFC to community agencies in the United States and Europe