NCJ Number
185966
Date Published
1999
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This summary of a workshop panel on designing appropriate program elements and strategies for very young offenders also encompasses program implementation, program evaluation, effective and ineffective program elements, and risk factors.
Abstract
An outline of the necessary steps for designing and implementing effective prevention and early intervention programs includes first collecting data on the problems and needs to be addressed by the program, identifying examples of validated programs, and the solicitation of expert advice on whether the program is likely to meet the local needs identified. A panel member cautions that program implementation must be undertaken with due regard for the existing local social service culture. This means that the program must be adapted to fit into local circumstances and resources. A panelist's comment on evaluation warns against concluding that a program is ineffective when it does not result in large, measurable change, since small effects are often the consequence of inadequate funding or an insufficient implementation period rather than flaws in the program's design. Ineffective program methods identified are incarceration, combining large numbers of aggressive boys in a single group, and using talk therapy with aggressive youth. The panelist who addresses risk factors focuses on individual and family risk factors, which interact synergistically and together with socio-demographic risk factors such as poverty and race. It is advised that prevention and early intervention programs should focus on "accumulated" risk and recognize that the effect of multiple risk factors is geometric, not merely additive. Audience questions and discussion are summarized.