[From the New York Times, Sunday, October 17, 2004, section A, page 25]
October 17, 2004
'Get Tough' Youth Programs Are Ineffective, Panel Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (AP) - Boot camps and other get-tough program for adolescents do not prevent criminal behavior, as intended, and may make the problem even worse, a new study has found.
Further, laws transferring juveniles into the adult court system lead these teenagers to commit more violence, the study said. More promising, it said, are programs that offer intensive counseling for families and young people at risk.
A 13-member panel convened by the National Institutes of Health reviewed the available scientific evidence to look for consensus on causes of youth violence and ways to prevent it. Its report was released on Friday.
" 'Scare tactics' don't work," the panel concluded. "Programs that seek to prevent violence through fear and tough treatment do not work."
Youth violence has declined from its peak a decade ago but violent crime rates are still high, the panel said.
Violence can be traced to a variety of conditions. Among the possible causes are these: inconsistent or harsh parenting, poor peer relations, gang involvement, lack of connection to school and living in a violent neighborhood.
The trouble with boot camps, group detention centers and other "get tough" programs is that they bring together young people who are inclined toward violence and teach one another how to commit more crime, the panel said. "The more sophisticated instruct the more naive in precisely the behaviors that the intervener wishes to prevent."
It also rejected programs that "consist largely of adults lecturing," like DARE, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
One barrier to setting up effective programs, the report said, is resistance from people operating ineffective programs who depend on them for their jobs.
"All the evaluations have shown they don't work," said the panel's chairman, Dr. Robert L. Johnson of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "Many communities are wasting a great deal of money on those types of programs."
The panel looked for programs that have been tested using rigorous research methods and concluded that "the good news is that there are a number of intervention programs that have been shown" effective.
The report cited two: a therapy program where youth and their families attend 12 one-hour sessions over three months, and a community-based clinical treatment program that targeted violent and chronic offenders at risk of being removed from their families. This second program provided about 60 hours of counseling over about four months with therapists available at all hours.
One key, Dr. Johnson said, was letting counselors observe families and children together and offer suggestions for better parenting.
Both programs reduced arrest rates and out-of-home placements, with positive effects four years after treatment ended.
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