Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc.1 Chapter 12 Assessment and Treatment of Young Offenders 12-1.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc. 1

Chapter 12

Assessment and Treatment of Young Offenders

12-1


Learning Objectives

• Describe the history of young offender legislation

• Identify psychiatric diagnoses and trajectories

• Differentiate theories of antisocial behaviour

• List risk and protective factors• Distinguish primary, secondary, and

tertiary interventions

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Historical Overview

• Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA), 1908

– Separate court system for youth

– Minimum age of 7 to be charged with criminal offence

– Sentencing discretion and options increased

– Parents encouraged to be part of process

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Young Offenders Act (YOA)

• Replaced JDA in 1984

– Youth held accountable for their action not to the full extent as adults

– Public has right to be protected

– Young offenders have legal rights and freedoms

– Minimum age of 12 to be charged with criminal offence

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Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)

• Replaced YOA in 2003

– To prevent youth crime

– Provide meaningful consequences and encourage responsibility of behaviour

– Improve rehabilitation and reintegration of youth into the community

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YCJA: Key Changes

• Less serious and less violent offences should be kept out of the formal court process

• Extrajudicial measures are increased

• Greater focus on prevention/reintegration

• Transfers to adult court removed; impose adult sentence

• Interests and needs of victims recognized

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Naming Youth

• Name of youth cannot be reported to public but only under special circumstances

– Defendants between 14 and 17 years and are convicted of serious, violent offences

– Youth is considered dangerous

– Youth has not been apprehended yet

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Youth Crime Rates

• Total number of crimes by youth decreasing

• Probation is the most frequent sentence

• Youth in custody during 2008-09 down 8%

• Down 42% from 2003-04 when YCJA introduced

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Assessing Under 12s

• Levels of consent

• Internalizing problems (e.g., depression)

• Externalizing problems (e.g., delinquency)

• Childhood psychiatric diagnoses:

– Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

– Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

– Conduct Disorder (CD)

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Assessing the Adolescent

• Court-ordered assessment – no consent/assent required

• Determine level of risk for reoffending

• Risk factors may vary for youth vs. adults

• Use developmentally appropriate measures

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Rates of Behaviour Disorders

• 5% to 15% of children display severe behavioural problems (possibly higher)

• Behavioural disorders co-occur

• 20% to 50% of children with ADHD also have symptoms consistent with CD or ODD

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Trajectories of Young Offenders

• Child-onset, life-course persistent

– Early onset related to more serious and persistent antisocial behaviour

– 3% to 5% of general population

• Adolescent-onset, adolescent limited

– About 70% of general population

– Common for youth to desist antisocial behaviour

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Theories

• Biological theories

• Cognitive theories

• Social theories

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Biological Theories

• Frontal lobe functioning

– Responsible for planning and inhibiting behaviour

• Physiological

– Slower heart rates for youth who engage in antisocial behaviour

• Genetic studies/biological link

– Antisocial father, more likely to engage

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Cognitive Theories

• Cognitive deficits and distortions

• Limited problem-solving skills

• Reactive aggression: Emotionally aggressive response to perceived threat

• Proactive aggression: Directed at achieving a goal

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Social Theories

• Social learing theory: Learning from watching others in the social environment and reinforcement contingencies

• More likely to imitate behaviour that receives positive reinforcement than behaviour that receives negative reinforcement

• Intergenerational aggression

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Risk Factors

• Individual and social factors that place children at increased risk for developmental psychopathology

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Individual Risk Factors

• Genetic/biological factors

– Parent’s own history of ADHD

– Pregnant woman’s use of drugs and alcohol

– Child’s diet and exposure to lead

– Child’s temperament

– Child’s impulsiveness

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Familial Risk Factors

• Parenting– Neglect and insecure attachment

• Divorce and familial conflict• Inconsistent and overly strict parents• Parental heavy drinking• Consequences of child abuse• Low socioeconomic status, large family

size, parental mental health problems

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School and Social Risk Factors

• Reading and lower intelligence

• Aggressive peers

• Early CD symptoms

• Social disapproval and rejection

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Protective Factors

• Reduces negative outcome by changing the risk level

• Change the negative chain reaction following exposure to risk

• Develops and maintains self-esteem and self-efficacy

• Provide opportunities to children that they would not otherwise have

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Individual Protective Factors

• Resiliant temperaments

– Exceptional social skills

– Child competencies

– Confident perceptions, values, attitudes and beliefs within the child

• Social support influenced by personality

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Familial Protective Factors

• Positive aspects of the child’s parents/guardians and home environment

– Positive and supportive parental relationship

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Social/External Protective Factors

• Peer groups

– Associating with prosocial children

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Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment

• Primary intervention strategies• Secondary intervention strategies• Tertiary Intervention strategies

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Primary Intervention Strategies

• Strategies that are implemented prior to any violence occurring, with the goal of decreasing the likelihood that violence will occur later on

– Family oriented strategies

– School oriented strategies

– Community-wide strategies

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Family-Oriented Strategies

• Target the family

– Parent-focused interventions: Interventions directed at assisting parents to recognize warning signs for later youth violence

– Family-supportive intervention: Intervention that connect at-risk families to various support services

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School-Oriented Strategies

• Preschool programs, social skills training for children, and broad-based social interventions designed to alter the school environment

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Community-Wide Strategies

• Structured community activities for children and increasing a community’s cohesion

• Few community-based programs exist for children younger than 12 who are at risk for future young offending

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Secondary Intervention Strategies

• Strategies that attempt to reduce the frequency of violence

• Provide social and clinical services so that young offenders do not go on to commit serious violence

• Many of the same approaches used in primary intervention strategies are used here, the difference is the target rather than the content

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Secondary Strategies

• Diversion programs

• Alternative and vocational education

• Family therapy

• Skills training

• Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an example that has undergone considerable evaluation

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Tertiary Intervention Strategies

• Strategies that attempt to prevent violence from reoccurring

• More “treatment” than prevention

• Directed at chronic and serious young offenders

• In-patient treatment (e.g., institutional)

• Community-based treatment

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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc.1 Chapter 12 Assessment and Treatment of Young Offenders 12-1.

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