The MST and BSFT Essay

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

The juvenile drug court treatment program begins with an evaluation process. The program is then implemented into a four-phase sequence that concludes with graduation. In Phase I, an individual assessment plan is established that includes a minimum of nine hours of intervention per week. This intervention consists of social activities and health related classes that cover topics such as AIDS, HIV, and STD’s. Individuals may also undergo family intervention, individual counseling, programs such as AA/NA, anger-management, self-esteem classes, and support groups.

One of the programs they review is the Multisystemic Therapy (MST) program. To prevent juveniles from repeating the same crimes they would keep them in the community instead of locking them away in jail. The juveniles would have family therapy, individual therapy, group therapy, and other types of support. As a result, “MST participants had a rate of recidivism of 22.1 percent…the individual therapy group which had a recidivism rate of 71.4 percent…those that participated only temporarily in the MST program also had a reduced recidivism rate of 46.6 percent compared to the control delinquent group MST participants had a significantly lower recidivism rate” (May, Osmond, and Billick 298). This programed showed that like the J RIP the delinquent juvenile who get help from their community are more likely to not go back to crime. The review also mentions, “one of the main goals of MST is to decrease the juvenile delinquents association with other delinquent youths, while facilitating familial support through communication and guided problem solving” (298). Because most criminals gain support from other criminals and learn new ways to commit crimes from them by keeping the influence away it shows the juveniles that that’s not the best route to

Legacy Treatment Services is a nonprofit organization which employs over 700 employees and offers programs to 13 counties throughout New Jersey (Legacy Treatment Services, 2016). It should be noted that there are 21 counties in the state of NJ, which are served by different organizations, like Oaks Integrated Care. This organizations mission is to support and change behavioral health and social service outcomes. Legacy Treatment Services is the product of a mergence between The Drenk Center and The Children’s Home. This paper will focus primarily on the Adolescent Residential Services Division which provides housing, schooling, therapy, psychiatric services, and life skills training to children who reside

Every child deserves individual attention, and facilities that work with troubled children should have the necessary elements and tools to help them make a favorable change. According to webpage mtsservices “It has been proven to work and produce positive results with the toughest kids. It blends the best clinical treatments—cognitive behavioral therapy, behavior management training, family therapies and community psychology to reach this population.” It is based on evidence that the Multisystemic therapy helps children to stay out of trouble and build better relations with themselves and their families. Also, mtsservices states “Intervention effectiveness is evaluated continuously from multiple perspectives with MST team members being held accountable for overcoming barriers to successful outcomes.” This means that they really pay close attention to their patients by evaluating their continuous effort and developmental accountability. The juvenile justice system should take in consideration of adding the Multisystemic therapy system into their facilities to start making appropriate adjustments.

Since juvenile offenders are viewed as immaturity because their brains are not completely developed, they are considered as what is desired to be protected and educated in general. Minors are believed to be competent to be held responsible for their actions. Recently, it has been debated that juvenile offenders should be punished tougher like adult offenders or should not be punished tougher. The question is whether recent treatments are appropriate or not. If not, what kinds of treatments should provide for minor offenders to clean up their criminal behavior?

Consider Multisystemic Therapy as an advanced treatment for adolescent sex offenders. Adolescent sex offenders are defined as prepubescent youths who engage in abusive behavior that is sexual in nature and that occurs “without consent, without equality, and as a result of coercion, manipulation, game-playing, or deception (Shawn, 199).” These adolescents do not demonstrate positive sexuality; and, therefore, require a multi-disciplinary approach that provides a high-intensity therapeutic intervention, such as Multisystemic Therapy. MST is an intensive family and community-based treatment that addresses the multiple factors of serious sexually maladaptive behavior in adolescent abusers, for the onset of sexual offending behavior in these youth can be linked to numerous factors reflected in their “experiences, exposure, and/or developmental deficits” (Hunter, 1999). Thus, treatment

-Shifting the family’s view of treatment from focusing on the adolescent as “the problem” to enhancement of family relationships as an important part of the solution.

The need of diversion programs in juvenile correctional settings is on an increase. Two conflicting impulses dominate the desire to decrease the number of reoffending juveniles. The first is a compassionate approach that concentrates on treating the youth whereas the second approach uses punishment to protect their focus, which is community safety (Artello, Hayes, Muschert, & Spencer, 2015). It is important to note that not all individuals are impacted in the same way therefore many approaches aimed towards assisting the youth within the justice system exist. Due to the Progressive Era Reform, the state has the ability and responsibility to protect the welfare of children leading to treatment that hopefully divert them from continuously

1. In general the purpose of the Functional Family Therapy Program is a short-term family-based prevention and intervention treatment applied across various context for treatment of at-risk and juvenile adolescents to address delinquent and behavior problems in hopes to modify community relations. The specific activities offered by the program are develop systemic and individualized family-based orientation to address behavioral problems of at-risk and juvenile delinquent adolescents. Participants then undergo three specific intervention phases in sequence: engagement and motivation, behavior change, and generalization. Each phase holds goals with assessment objectives, addressing different risk and protective aspects necessary for specific techniques from professions to address family and individual disruption.

When it comes to juvenile delinquency an adolescent personality is usually impacted from different factors such as early child hood experiences of witnessing a crime, seeing a violent act, being the victim of a crime, or being around others or family who engaged in criminal activity, these factors can either create an adolescent with a positive or negative attitude, or an anti-social behavior which could create a path for a delinquent behavior (Wilson, p. 34). A study has shown that family interactions accounts for about 40 percent of the cause of an adolescent with an anti-social behavior, the study also shown that aggressiveness which is a common trait of adolescent who engage in delinquent acts is usually created from peer influences (Wilson, p. 34).

Alternative programs for youth were developed for mild and less serious delinquents. Over the years, the program has seen a surge in electronic home monitoring, community intensive supervision programs which service serious offenders in addition to minor cases. At times, group homes may house repeated youth offenders. Regardless of the placement, 24-hour supervision is provided in a unique way.

Functional family therapy (FFT) is an evidence-based practice (EBP) for high-risk youth that concentrates on multifaceted and multidimensional issues through a practice that is validated by research, culturally diverse, and submissively structured (Robbins, 2016). Furthermore, the FFT program’s goal is to increase protective factors while decreasing the risk factors that have a direct impact on youth offenders (CrimeSolutions.Gov, 2011).

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges have recently discussed their methodology of how to respond to compliance and noncompliance with incentives and sanctions that are designed to reinforce or modify the behavior of youth and their families. As one would assume, similar concepts, different approaches. The juvenile drug court takes a lot into perspective when using behavior modification strategies. If there is a desirable and an undesirable behavior in the same period, the JDC places weight on each of the behaviors. Recognizing the youth’s progress and accomplishments with praise, and responding to the infraction. Where the focus lies, whether on the infraction or progress, depends on where the youth is in the program, and the significance of the behavior. JDC says that our intentions don’t matter- it is the perception of the

Research and etiology on the problem behaviors in childhood and adolescence often focus on the role of the family on the development of antisocial behavior. An important factor examined in past studies has been family structure, and this research has shown that youth from single parent families often have higher