UNLABELLED The objective of this article is to examine the effectiveness of 2 theoretically different treatments delivered in juvenile drug court--family therapy represented by multidimensional family therapy (MDFT) and group-based treatment represented by adolescent group therapy (AGT)--on offending and substance use. Intent-to-treat sample included 112 youth enrolled in juvenile drug court (p...

The teen court concept has gained popularity in recent years as juvenile courts have had to deal with increased numbers of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Its acceptance has been fueled, in part, by positive anecdotal reports from those involved with this peer-centered approach. This Bulletin examines several teen court evaluations, but cautions that we lack the empirical data...

The 20th century U.S. Supreme Court advanced the Constitutional rights of adult criminal defendants. Although far reaching in their impact, these constitutional protections were not afforded to juveniles. For example, the Supreme Court held in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) that indigent adult defendants in felony cases have a right to counsel as a matter of due process, but did not extend this ri...

In 1997, U.S. law enforcement agencies made some 2.8 million arrests of persons under age 18. With the growth of referrals for serious and violent offenses, the demands on the limited resources of juvenile courts are greater than ever. To help States meet those demands, the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program provides Federal funds to increase the number of juvenile c...

This is a critical review of 37 published and unpublished evaluations of drug courts (including seven juvenile drug courts, one DUI court, and one family drug court) produced between 1999 and April 2001. The conclusions drawn from this research are generally consistent with those of previous reviews published by the author in June 1998 and December 1999. Drug courts have achieved considerable l...

BACKGROUND The present study uses data from a community sample of 779 low-SES boys to investigate whether intervention by the juvenile justice system is determined, at least in part, by particular individual, familial and social conditions, and whether intervention by the juvenile courts during adolescence increases involvement in adult crime. METHOD The study considers self-reported crime in...

Main results 9 studies (8 randomised controlled trials) met the selection criteria. The mean age of participants ranged from 15–17 years. Only 1 study included girls. Follow up ranged from 3–24 months. None of the 9 studies showed a benefit for “Scared Straight” or other juvenile awareness programmes. When results for the 7 studies reporting reoffence data for each group were combined, juvenile...

This book is a companion to the author's Indiscretions of a Warden. It serves as a useful guide in human terms to the work and procedure of the London Juvenile Courts, and is easily read by a person who has no previous knowledge of this field. Mr. Henriques, who has been a magistrate of the East London Juvenile Court since 1924, may be congratulated that it is his purpose to show that there is ...