This week assignment was to read an article related to juvenile rehabilitation and discuss whether it conveyed a equitable results for such rehabilitative efforts. This is my discussion post below and I would like to know do you agree or disagree with a brief response on why you do/don't agree. Please provide reference(s) to backup your thoughts.

For this assignment, I chose an article from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's "Juvenile Justice Bulletin" from July of 1999. The article, Reintegration, Supervised Release, and Intensive Aftercare, focused on specific treatment programs from juveniles. The article discussed how rehabilitation was appealing when handling delinquent behavior because of the assumption "that adolescents are in a formative period and criminal behavior at this stage of life will not necessarily be continued into adulthood" (OJJDP, 1999).

The article assessed meta-analysis, where researchers aggregate continuing research, conducted by Lipsey (1992). Lipsey (1992) "examined 443 different research studies, focusing on interventions or treatments designed to reduce, prevent, or treat delinquent or antisocial behavior problems similar to delinquency" (OJJDP, 1999). In 64.3% of the research studies Lipsey (1992) examined, "the treatment group did better (in most cases this finding refers to a reduction in recidivism) than the control group" (OJJDP, 1999). "As compared with a 50% recidivism rate for the control group, only 32 to 38 percent of juveniles who were given employment and multimodal or behavioral programs were estimated to recidivate" (OJJDP, 1999).

Lipsey (1992) concluded that successful programs were those which provided longer, more meaningful treatment, were those where research was an influential component to treatment, and those which "offered behavioral, skill-oriented, and multimodal treatment" (OJJDP, 1999).

The data also suggested that, "like with adult programs, juvenile rehabilitation programs may be poorly implemented" (OJJDP, 1999). "Strengthening implementation of existing rehabilitation and delinquency prevention programs could substantially reduce future criminality" (OJJDP, 1999).

I think this article does convey equitable results for rehabilitative efforts. I think the numbers speak for themselves. A direct correlation was made between effective treatment programs and a reduction in recidivism, with a 50% recidivism rate for the control group, and between a 32-38% rate for those who had adequate behavioral treatment in 64% of the cases studied.

The reference I used was:

Lipsey, M. (1992). Juvenile delinquency treatment: A meta-analytic inquiry into the variability of effects. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243774385_Juvenile_delinquency_treatment_A_meta-analytic_inquiry_into_the_variability_of_effects

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (1999). Reintegration, supervised release, and intensive aftercare. Treatment programs for juvenile delinquents. Retrieved from: https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/jjbulletin/9907_3/treat.html