Juvenile Recidivism

Associations between drug and alcohol use and juvenile criminal activities have been a well-known fact, that’s often thought of as a correlation. “The estimated prevalence of substance abuse disorder and juvenile offending approaches 67% across studies in justice settings” (Liddle, 2014). Whether the alcohol and other drug (AOD) use led them to the criminal activity or AOD will be an issue for the juvenile offender once they are out of the justice system. Questions form at this transition stage for the adolescent on whether or not that offender will return to their AOD use, as well as recidivate back into the juvenile justice system. Recidivism meaning a relapse into their previous behavior, especially criminal behavior.
How does one
effectively deter the adolescent form AOD use; when would be the proper time to step in and answer those questions? “Although the drug-crime connection for juvenile offenders continues to warrant in-depth examination of its possible causes, prevalence data suggests that a large percentage of juvenile offenders abuse AOD. Waiting until the source of this connection is discovered or the causal linkages are found is inadvisable, given the recidivism-relapse relationship” (Roget, 1998).
In order to reduce recidivism among AOD adolescent users, as well as continuing their sobriety following their stay at a juvenile detention center, a strong and effective method of intervention should be implemented as well as instilling key characteristic traits into the adolescent offenders’ everyday life and thought process.
The methods discussed will be that of two forms of therapy; Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT). The characteristics that will be looked into for the adolescent to learn and implement are those of mindfulness and resiliency. Along with a probation officer issued by the court, a therapist, and a family that is willing to work with the offender, the use of these methods and traits should bring about change to the adolescents’ life, post release and future endeavors as they grow with their families and communities around
them.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) focuses on creating goals for the adolescent centered on themselves and the environment they interact with; family, peers, neighborhood and in schools.
The more in depth focus with the adolescent and their family comes from Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT), “a family based, developmentally oriented, comprehensive treatment for adolescent drug abuse and antisocial behavior.” (Liddle, 2015). For adolescents who demonstrated behavioral issues prior to their time in juvenile detention centers, going back to their home environment takes them a longer time to adjust back into their role in the family. This is the primary reason the initial goals, in either type of therapy, is centered and direct to the individual first so they can get a better understanding of who they are. Once that has been established, working with their therapist in creating goals to get reemerged themselves with their other environments becomes an easier thing for the adolescent offender to do.
“MST youth to have improved functioning within family, peer, school, and community settings. MST participants showed significant improvement in all five areas evaluated (parenting skills, family relations, network of social supports, educational and vocational success, and involvement with prosocial — i.e., beneficial or helpful — peers). For example, at program entry, only 21.2 percent of MST youth had satisfactory family relations, compared with 77.8 percent at program exit” (Fain,
2014).
Being able to see these goals from beginning to end creates a sense of accomplishment for these youth, thus allowing them an opportunity to see that goals can be met when AOD use is not prevalent in their lives.
A sense of accomplishment is a factor in one of the key traits for building resiliency in the life of the adolescent offender “For individuals with complex lives, service coordination and other best practices will only contribute to the resilience of individuals under stress”