NCJ Number
89418
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1983) Pages: 27-33
Date Published
1983
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The Intensive Family Counseling (IFC) program, an integral part of the Lane County Juvenile Court in Eugene, Oreg., was considerably more effective than probation services in reducing the number of recidivists in a group of 75 offenders.
Abstract
The 75 offenders were assigned for ongoing supervision between Aug. 1, 1979, and Feb. 18, 1980. They ranged in age from 10 years, 7 months to 17 years, 5 months. The IFC program consisted of one cocounseling team composed of one male and one female therapist. There were 15 probation counselors involved with the offenders. The experimental group received family counseling, lasting for 3 to 4 months, while the control group received casework-oriented probation services. Of the 75 offenders, 15 were assigned to the experimental group and the remaining 60 were assigned to the control group. The effectiveness of the treatment provided each group was measured by reduced recidivism and improved family functioning, testing for significance at the .05 level. The nonparametric Mann Whitney U test was used to analyze the amount of recidivism, while the percentage of recidivists was analyzed using the non-parametric Fisher-Exact Probability test. The results of the family functioning measures did not clearly indicate that family counseling was more effective than probation in improving family functioning. Study data and seven notes are included.