Best practices for reducing risk among serious, violent, and chronic (SVC) offending gang affiliated youth in juvenile justice residential placement: Levering structured decision-making tools

• In Event: Advanced Programs and Practices for Interrupting Serious, Violent, and Chronic (SVC) Offender Careers

Abstract

The Risk-Need-Responsivity paradigm promotes matching of services to individualized criminogenic needs. We examine the efficacy of matching criminogenic needs to interventions for serious, violent, and chronic (SVC) gang-affiliated youth within juvenile justice residential programs while accounting for the dosages of services received (contact hours and number of weeks). We use a sample of 789 SVC juvenile offenders (69% Black, 10% Hispanic, 11% female) released from residential placement. Logistic regression tests whether service matching and achieving dosage targets recommended by Lipsey’s Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP) predict greater reductions in risk from admission to discharge using a validated risk/need tool. Additionally, exact matching is used to create equivalent groups in examining whether service matching and achieving SPEP targets results in lower recidivism post-release. Discussion centers on the need for structured decision-making tools to guide service provision for the highest-risk of all juvenile offenders.

Authors

• Michael T. Baglivio, Truecore Behavioral Solutions

• Kevin T. Wolff, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Katherine Jackowski, TrueCore Behavioral Solutions

• Mark A. Greenwald, Florida State University