NCJ Number
111173
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter details programs in the United Kingdom and Europe using behavioral approaches in the treatment of juvenile delinquents.
Abstract
An exhaustive search of professional literature in English and a selective search of German, French, and Dutch professional literature has turned up relatively few examples of the application of behavioral psychology to the treatment of juvenile delinquency. This is due, the authors say, not to a belief that traditional institutional approaches work better that behavioral approaches. Instead, in the United Kingdom and Europe, the social and political environments have shifted their emphasis from the provision of care and treatment to punishment for juvenile offenders. Several institutional and community-based behavioral programs in the United Kingdom are described in detail. The programs use such behavioral methods as token economies, teaching-family groups, and social skills training. Other behavioral programs in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium are described. The authors report that behavioral programs for delinquents are being contemplated or implemented in parts of Italy, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, France, and Bavaria, but no published descriptions or results are as yet available. The authors conclude that behavioral methods developed in the United States to treat delinquents have had a beneficial impact on international thinking about the treatment of delinquency. 45 references.