Serious (violent or chronic) juvenile offenders: A systematic review of treatment effectiveness in secure corrections

Abstract

Positive results in reducing future offender were found for some of the programs examined that serve serious (violent or chronic) juvenile offenders in secure corrections. Considering this general outcome, it is justifiable to continue treating this population. We found that programs were more effective at reducing serious recidivism than in reducing general recidivism. This finding shows the importance of including serious recidivism as an outcome measure of efficacy in all the programmes oriented to reduce the delinquent behaviour of serious offenders. Chronic and violent offenders are a small part of the offender population yet they are responsible for a substantive portion of all offenses. Reducing the delinquent behaviour of this group through secure correctional programming is clearly important that this review suggests that such programs can be effective.