NCJ Number
197348
Date Published
January 1999
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This legislatively directed study was conducted by the Washington Institute for Public Policy to measure whether the Community Juvenile Accountability Act (CJAA) programs cost-effectively reduce recidivism in Washington State.
Abstract
Juvenile offender sentencing laws administration intervention policies were altered by the Washington State Legislature in 1997, when the CJAA was established, to change the way some local court programs were funded. National research literature was examined from the past 20 years to identify programs that successfully reduced recidivism and net juvenile justice costs. Two programs to reduce recidivism were selected by the juvenile courts and were measured in this study by the Institute. The literature for these two programs, Functional Family Therapy and Aggression Replacement Training, is listed herein. The methods recommended for maintaining program fidelity include training and support; defining the eligible population includes a discussion of risk assessment. In conclusion, measuring program effectiveness discusses random assignment of eligible participants to a control or program group; for example, in this study youth are pooled across courts for a statewide evaluation. It was anticipated that statewide samples of a total of 1,014 youth in participating programs, plus an equal number of control group participants, would be large enough to detect whether the intervention significantly reduced recidivism rates. The rate of difference between the beginning and end of program participation was compared as it related to changes in risk and protective factors. A table of evaluation events and their dates is included.