EFFECTIVENESS OF TREATMENT PROGRAMMES FOR VIOLENT YOUTH OFFENDERS IN REDUCING RECIDIVISM AND CHANGING DYNAMIC RISK FACTORS: A META-ANALYSIS

Abstract

Violent offending behaviour poses a high risk to public safety and it is often that a small group of violent individuals are responsible for a majority of violent crimes in a community. This same trend is displayed amongst violent youth offenders as well, with juvenile justice systems having to balance the rehabilitation of these youths with the protection of public safety. There is a lack of intervention studies investigating the effectiveness of treatment programmes for this population and overall treatment efficacy remains unknown. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate if treatment programmes are effective in reducing recidivism rates and changing the dynamic risk factors of violent youth offenders. We also conducted a moderator analysis to determine if treatment and sample characteristics moderated treatment efficacy. This study found that treatments were effective in reducing general recidivism rates and changing dynamic risk factors: reducing aggression, antisocial cognitions and impulsivity levels, also increasing family functioning of violent youths. No significant effect was found in reducing violent recidivism. This study also found the presence of moderating variables for specific treatment outcomes, such as treatment types and components taught. Our findings have important implications on how juvenile justice systems should plan treatments for violent youth offenders, in aiming to target their risk factors to reduce their re-offending behaviour, while taking into consideration which treatment characteristics work best for different samples of youths. There is a great need for further research in this area on what works best in rehabilitating violent youth offenders.