Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change

Quantifying the decline in juvenile sexual recidivism rates.

Sex offender legislation is influenced by public pressure. However, there is evidence suggesting that the public's beliefs about sex offenders may be based upon myths and misperceptions. This study examined the relationship between knowledge of sex offenders in areas concerning their recidivism rates, treatment outcomes, and victim types, as well as current supervision and correctional management directed toward sex offenders and how this knowledge relates to overall attitudes towards sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and community notification laws. Further, we sought to examine how conservative belief systems affect this relationship. Using a sample of 559 undergraduate students we found that knowledge about sex offenders and conservative beliefs were significantly related to attitudes toward sex offenders such that those who had more conservative beliefs and less knowledge were more likely to have negative views toward sex offenders. Additionally, conservative belief systems moderated the relationship between knowledge about sex offenders and general attitudes toward sex offenders. These findings will be discussed as they pertain to the development of evidence-based sex offender policies.

Factors Impacting upon Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders: The Role of Conservatism and Knowledge.

Juveniles who have committed sexual offenses are subject to specialized treatment and policies based on their assumed unique dangerousness, despite contradictory evidence. Limited information is available regarding risk factors and their relationships to outcomes in this population. The comparative frequency and predictive utility of empirically supported risk factors for general delinquency were examined using data from the Pathways to Desistance study. Adolescent males who committed sexual offenses (n = 127) were compared to adolescent males who committed non-sexual offenses (n = 1021). At the start of the study, the sample ranged in age from 14 to 18 (M = 16.00, SD = 1.12) and self-identified as primarily African American (44 %), Latino (29 %), or White (25 %). Outcomes were measured over 7 years and included general and sexual recidivism, involvement in school and work, and positive relationships with peers and adults. The results indicated a few small differences in the presence of risk factors and their relationship to outcomes, with many similarities. Juveniles who have committed sexual offenses had equivalent general recidivism but higher sexual recidivism, though this rate was low (7.87 %, or 10 of the 127 adolescents who had committed sexual offenses). New clinical and policy approaches may be needed given the similarities between groups.

Risk and Outcomes: Are Adolescents Charged with Sex Offenses Different from Other Adolescent Offenders?

Background: The field of addiction studies (AS) has grown in the last several decades. However, little is known about the structure and conditions of current academic programs. Only two studies hav...

Overview of the university-based addiction studies programs in the United States

Forty male juvenile sex offenders were compared with 133 male juvenile non-sex offenders 2 years postrelease from residential treatment to assess recidivism and factors related to recidivism. Juvenile sex offenders had significantly lower recidivism rates than juvenile non-sex offenders.

Juvenile Sex and Non‐Sex Offenders: A Comparison of Recidivism and Risk

Expectations of addiction counselors have changed over the past decade; however, preparation of addiction counselors has not kept pace, creating a deficit between the knowledge and skills required of today's addiction counselors and a workforce possessing such knowledge and skills.

Current Expectations and Existing Deficits among Addiction Specialists

Integrating research into practice: The Forward-Focused Model of adolescent sexual behavior treatment

IntroductionBeing able to successfully treat adolescent offenders continues to present a challenge to the juvenile justice system, especially the most serious offenders. To address this issue and to promote more successful transitions to society following incarceration, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) prioritized development of comprehensive reentry programming more than thirty years ago. Since then, increased attention has been given to reentry services and their role in the long-term success of juvenile justice programming. As a result, basic reentry services have become standard protocol for many juvenile justice systems. However, the scope and intensity of these services have varied greatly between providers and between systems.The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of specialized reentry services. To accomplish this, a group of adolescents who received treatment as usual reentry services was matched with a group of adolescents who received specialized reentry services. Both groups were incarcerated in the same facility, and thus, both received the same cognitive behaviorally-based residential treatment. In addition to evaluating the effect of reentry services, differences between adolescents who initially committed a non-sexual offense were compared to those who initially committed a sexual offense.Adolescent Offenders and the Need for Reentry ServicesMore than 1.3 million adolescents cycle through juvenile courts each year (Sickmund, Sladky, & Kang, 2013), and on any given day, an estimated 71,000 adolescents are incarcerated in the United States (Sickmund, Sladky, Kang, & Puzzanchera, 2011). This significant participation in the juvenile justice system has broad implications for adolescents' healthy development and long-term success (Willison et al., 2013); it poses a significant risk to adolescents and is a primary predictor of poor long-term outcomes (e.g., Mallett, 2013; Seigle, Walsh, & Weber, 2014). However, this relationship is not wholly clear, particularly when factoring in many adolescent offenders' serious comorbid needs, including mental health and substance abuse issues, histories of abuse and/ or neglect, and academic challenges (Herz et al., 2012; Hodgdon, 2008; Leone & Weinberg, 2010; Skowyra & Cocozza, 2006). Between 60-70% of justice system-involved youth have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder (Skowyra & Cocozza, 2006), approximately 60% have had co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (Hodgdon, 2008), and as many as 65% have been involved in the child welfare system (Herz et al., 2012). Not unexpectedly, given their complex needs, justice-involved youth are significantly more likely to struggle academically, have learning disabilities, and drop out of school (Leone & Weinberg, 2010).Due to offenders' complex needs, reentry planning and aftercare services have long been considered crucial to community engagement efforts (Bullis, Yovanoff, & Havel, 2004) to effectively treat adolescent offenders with mental health needs (Pullman et al., 2006) and to promote successful transitions (Spencer & Jones-Walker, 2004). More recently, researchers have sought to further understand the relationship between reentry planning and recidivism (James, Stams, Aascher, De Roo, van der Laan, 2013; Baglivio, Wolff, Jackowski, & Greenwald, 2015).In addition to adolescent offenders' comorbid treatment needs, they also face several other specific challenges related to reentry. For some, these challenges involve returning to the same unstable home environment in the same community that lacks effective schools and/or employment opportunities. For others, particularly those convicted of sexual offenses, these challenges may be compounded by barriers to education, employment, and housing that have resulted from sex offender legislation (Meloy, Miller, & Curtis, 2008; Zevitz & Farkas, 2000; Zimring, Jennings, & Piquero, 2007). …

Reducing Juvenile Recidivism through Specialized Reentry Services: A Second Chance Act Project

This investigation evaluated trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (T-F CBT) with detained male adolescents with serious offending behaviors. One hundred and seventeen youth with trauma symptoms participated in an average of twelve T-F CBT individual sessions. Trauma symptoms were assessed prior to and following treatment using the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and a paired sample t-test was used to analyze changes from pre- to posttest. Trauma symptoms in five of the six scales (i.e., anger, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, dissociation) were significantly reduced following treatment. T-F CBT may be effective in reducing general trauma symptoms among detained adolescents; assessing and treating trauma symptoms are recommended as standard protocol in the juvenile justice system; and T-F CBT may be effective without caregiver participation.

Nancy G. Calleja

Papers

Juvenile Sex and Non‐Sex Offenders: A Comparison of Recidivism and Risk

Current Expectations and Existing Deficits among Addiction Specialists

Integrating research into practice: The Forward-Focused Model of adolescent sexual behavior treatment

Reducing Juvenile Recidivism through Specialized Reentry Services: A Second Chance Act Project

Assessing and Treating Trauma in Detained Adolescents: A Pre–Post Within Subjects Evaluation