NCJ Number
189555
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 469-477
Date Published
August 2001
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined criminal recidivism among 10 highly disruptive and aggressive incarcerated juvenile offenders in Wisconsin who received decompression treatment, 10 matched controls who received mental health treatment, and 10 controls who received mental-health assessment only.
Abstract
The participants were youths moved to the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center following moves to increasingly restrictive security units in an effort to manage their behavior. The study matched the treated participants with controls on a number of demographic, behavioral, and personality variables. The decompression treatment model originally aimed to improve the institutional adjustment of mentally disordered adult offenders and was adapted in this project for juvenile offenders. The concept of decompression treatment involved the development of clinical programming designed gradually to lift the individual out of the compressed cycle of extensive discipline or overcontrolled security measures and back to the general population in a manner similar to that used for divers rising from the ocean depths. Results revealed that participants in the decompression treatment and the usual treatment were both significantly less likely to recidivate in the 2-year follow-up period than was the group that received mental health assessment only and received the usual juvenile corrections rehabilitation services. The recidivism rates were 10 percent for the decompression group, 20 percent for the group that received mental health services, and 70 percent for the group that received assessment only. Results suggested that decompression treatment could be successful for the most unmanageable and disruptive institutionalized juvenile offenders. Table, figure, and 13 references (Author abstract modified)