Collaborative Family Work in Youth Justice

ABSTRACT

A number of studies have found that working with family groups can be successful in improving outcomes for young people and their families. This article reports on a study in New South Wales in which juvenile justice staff offered collaborative family work interventions to young people as part of the routine offerings of a juvenile justice service. The primary objective of this study was to examine the extent to which young people who completed the family work had lower recidivism rates compared to three control groups. The methods included a comparison of recidivism rates between young people who completed the intervention, those who failed to complete, those who declined, and a matched sample of young people who were not offered the intervention. The results of the study indicated that many young people and their families were agreeable to be involved in the intervention and the completion rates were high, particularly if the work was undertaken in the family home. The young people who completed the intervention also had lower recidivism rates than young people in each of the control groups.

IMPLICATIONS

• Collaborative family work can be offered successfully by juvenile justice services to young offenders and their families.

• Collaborative family work can reduce recidivism rates for those who complete the intervention.

• It is preferable to conduct the work in the family home where completion rates are likely to be higher.

根据若干研究，家庭小组有助于年轻人及其家庭。本文介绍了新南威尔士的一项研究，作为日常司法服务的一部分，从事青少年司法的工作人员为年轻人提供了合作性家庭干预。本文的主要目的在于考察完成了家庭干预活动的年轻人相对于其他控制组， 在多大程度上降低了再犯率。作者对完成家庭干预、未能完成家庭干预以及未参与家庭干预的几组年轻人做了比较。研究发现，许多年轻人和他们的家庭都乐意加入干预活动，其完成率相当高——当这样工作在家庭中进行时则尤其如此。完成干预活动的年轻人的再犯率低于其他控制组。

KEYWORDS:

• Family
• Effectiveness
• Youth
• Justice Probation

Acknowledgements

The support of Juvenile Justice NSW is acknowledged, in particular the support of Leonie Bender, Regional Director, and the staff of the Western Region.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant [LP110200711] New South Wales Juvenile Justice and Monash University.