Research supports rehabilitative programming that recognizes youth's level of risk to reoffend and addresses their criminogenic needs and responsivity factors. The risk-need-responsivity (RNR) framework takes a gender-neutral approach that critics assert overlooks the unique needs of female offenders. While matching treatments to RNR principles has been shown to reduce recidivism for male youth, it is unclear whether the same is true for female youth. Comparative analyses of 39 male and 37 female justice system-involved youth indicated that across RNR categories, females and males were similar in the quality and quantity of criminogenic needs and had these needs met through probation services at a similar rate. However, while the RNR assessment tool predicted recidivism equally well for male and female youth, the matching of services to RNR factors was significantly associated with reduced reoffending for boys but not for girls. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.
This article examines the feasibility of a complex intervention designed to facilitate the transition of youth out of homelessness. It is intended to contribute to efforts to build out the youth homelessness intervention literature, which is underdeveloped relative to descriptive characterizations of risk. The 6-month intervention examined here, referred to as the Housing Outreach Program-Collaboration (HOP-C), is comprised of transitional outreach-based case management, individual and group mental health supports, and peer support. The intervention was delivered through a multiagency, interdisciplinary collaboration. Feasibility was assessed using a mixed methods design that included prepost intervention metrics and the study site was a large Canadian urban center. A total of 31 youth participated in the study with 28 completing the intervention. Overall, implementation and youth engagement was successful though patterns and intensity of engagement were quite variable. While prepost, self-report metrics improved modestly, substantial gains were observed in employment, education, and mental health service connectedness. Qualitative themes focused on the benefits of a flexible, multicomponent approach, close attention to seamless delivery and common factors, and supporting youth in the balance of isolation versus independence. These findings suggested that this tertiary prevention approach is feasible and warrants further investigation.
Public Policy Relevance StatementThere is very little evidence regarding the types of services and collaborations that are necessary to support youth in transition out of homelessness. This article describes an example of a multiservice intervention that can inform growing policy-level efforts to replace crisis-oriented care systems with prevention-oriented systems. Fostering collaborations between service sectors is a priority of policymakers in many contexts and is a requirement for effective service delivery for homeless, transitionaged youth. The collaborative, codeveloped design described in this article can inform city-level
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