Overview of: “Getting the Law Involved a Quasi‐Experiment in Early Intervention Involving Collaboration Between Schools and the District Attorney's Office”

Abstract

Research Summary Precursors to serious and chronic delinquency often emerge in childhood, stimulating calls for early interventions. Most intervention efforts rely solely on social service programs—often to the exclusion of the juvenile justice system. The juvenile justice system has been reluctant to become involved in the lives of relatively young children fearing net widening or further straining resources that could be used for older youth with documented delinquency histories. We report here the results of an early intervention program sponsored by and housed in a district attorney's office in Louisiana. Using a quasi‐experimental design, we examined outcomes associated with program involvement as well as whether the obvious involvement of the prosecutor's office was associated with further reductions in problem behavior. The results revealed that significant reductions in problem behaviors of young children could be attributed to program participation. The obvious involvement of the district attorney's office, however, was associated with limited, albeit significant, reductions in specific problem behaviors. These findings show that successful early intervention efforts can be made part of the juvenile justice system and that in some limited situations prosecutorial involvement can result in positive outcomes. Policy Implications The expansion of early intervention programming into the juvenile justice system offers opportunities to address early problem behavior. Our study and its results have the following policy implications. Closely coupled partnerships between schools and the juvenile justice system can effectively address, mitigate, and perhaps prevent an early onset of antisocial behavior. Even so, coupling early intervention efforts to the mission of the juvenile justice system warrants debate. Net‐widening, resource diffusion, and the potential for officials to rely too heavily on the deterrent characteristics of the justice system represent serious threats to the integrity of effective early intervention programs. We suggest substantial debate and consideration is given before coupling early intervention efforts to the juvenile justice system.

Arrested Development: Does the Grade Level at Which Juveniles Experience Arrest Matter?

“…Early intervention is considered a promising avenue for addressing youth's behavioral problems (e.g., [25,80]), but the results from this study indicate that younger adolescents fare worse than their older counterparts in terms of negative consequences related to arrest, calling into question the types of early intervention that should be utilized. To be sure, this is not to say that early intervention is not warranted in some cases, but it is necessary to understand the potential consequences that all types of intervention have and most notably, interventions that rely on official actors of the justice system.…”

Beyond Black and White

“…Nonetheless, recent research on school resource officers has produced mixed findings regarding their theorized contribution to the school-to-prison pipeline, suggesting that the community or school may have a moderating effect (Fisher & Hennessy, 2016; May, Barranco, Stokes, Robertson, & Haynes, 2015; Nance, 2016). Limited evidence from early intervention programs successful at significantly reducing school suspensions and improving associated outcomes have shown that the authority of the court may serve to compel some uncooperative parents of delinquent youth to, “utilize available services in order to address their child’s problems” (Wright, McMahon, Daly, & Haney, 2012, p. 245). Additionally, findings concerning other prosecutorial and family-based interventions targeting at-risk children suggest that these strategies are effective but may require intensive case management with intellectually deficient subjects and often necessitate community-wide mobilization (Farrington, 2012).…”

Reclaiming crime prevention in an age of punishment: An American history

“…Many types of prevention programs, especially those that focus on adolescents, involve justice personnel such as police, prosecutors, or probation officers. In these cases, justice personnel work in close collaboration with those from such areas as education, health care, recreation, and social services (see, for example, Wright et al, 2012). 2.…”