The Juvenile Breaking the Cycle program (JBTC)
was implemented in 1998 by the Lane County Department of Youth
Services (DYS). The JBTC model was expected to be an improvement upon
existing treatment and rehabilitation interventions for drug-involved
juvenile offenders because juvenile offenders tend to have co-occurring
psychological and behavioral problems that require multi-faceted
approaches. In particular, JBTC built upon what had been learned about
the implementation and effects of programs that attempted to integrate
substance abuse treatment with other programmatic interventions
(mental health, family, etc.) and monitoring activities (urine
analysis, court monitoring, etc.). The purpose of this study was to
evaluate the effects of the JBTC program on interim and longer-term
outcomes such as adherence to program requirements, results of urine
testing, school performance, and rearrest for new offenses.
The impact of the Juvenile Breaking the Cycle
program (JBTC) was assessed by evaluating the outcomes of a sample of
306 juveniles who were risk assessed by the Lane County, Oregon
Department of Youth Services (DYS) between April 15, 2000, and November
15, 2001. Of the 306 juveniles recruited into the study, 149, or 49
percent, were enrolled in JBTC, and 157, or 51 percent, were not
enrolled in the JBTC program. Juveniles were identified as substance
involved (alcohol and/or other drug, or AOD) following an encounter
with police that led to either an arrest or a citation. Following the
police encounter, a juvenile was either turned over to DYS or cited
and released. Those sent to DYS were processed by intake personnel,
who administered a risk assessment. If the assessment identified the
juvenile as having AOD problems and as high risk, the juvenile was
assigned to JBTC. Juveniles were considered to be high risk if their
total risk scores were above ten. However, in some cases intake staff
would override a risk score below ten and classify a juvenile as high
risk. Typically, this occurred to ensure a juvenile would receive
treatment when the juvenile had a high score on the drug component but
scored relatively low on the other components. Three waves of
interviews were conducted, and administrative data were collected on a
baseline sample of 306 juveniles. Parental consent was obtained prior
to interviews, and the juveniles were also asked to consent to the
interview. The baseline interview, with 306 respondents, occurred
within about 1 month of the juvenile receiving risk assessment at
DYS. The second interview, with 208 respondents, was conducted
approximately 6 months after the baseline interview. The third
interview, with 183 respondents, was conducted approximately 6 months
after the second interview, or 12 months after the baseline
interview. The baseline interview took about 30 minutes, and the
follow-up interviews took between 1 and 1.5 hours to complete.
Respondents were given gift certificates for local shopping malls as
compensation for their participation. Administrative data, including
demographic characteristics, risk assessment scores, and additional
data on criminal history were obtained from DYS. Data describing
substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling episodes were
collected from the Oregon Client Process Monitoring System (CPMS).
These data were used to verify the respondents' history of substance
abuse treatment and mental health counseling. Data from the Oregon
Youth Authority's Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS) were used
to determine the extent to which those participating in the study were
involved in the juvenile justice system and to verify the respondents'
history of contact with the juvenile justice system. All measures of
delinquency reported in this study exclude the instant offense, which
is the arrest that led to the juvenile being eligible to participate
in the study.
A quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent
comparison group was used to evaluate the impact of the Juvenile
Breaking the Cycle program (JBTC). During the baseline recruitment
period, approximately 925 juveniles were administered risk assessments
by the Lane County, Oregon Department of Youth Services (DYS). Of
these, 306 (33 percent) were approached and agreed to participate in
the JBTC program evaluation study. Those interviewed included 50
percent (146 of 290) of the juveniles who were in the JBTC and 25
percent (160 of 635) who were not. The JBTC participants differed from
the non-JBTC participants on many of the measures that historically
have been associated with higher rates of recidivism and substance
abuse. The JBTC participants were assessed as being more likely to be
higher risk, to have more extensive and more serious criminal
histories, to report alcohol and/or other drug use (AOD) and to have
begun at an earlier age, to have been in treatment or a shelter prior
to assessment, to have family members with criminal records and
serious alcohol or drug problems, and to report being diagnosed with a
mental health problem more than non-JBTC participants.
All juvenile offenders in Lane County, Oregon from April
15, 2000 to November 15, 2001
individual
Data for this collection were obtained from
investigator-administered questionnaires and from administrative data
collected from the Lane County, Oregon Department of Youth Services
(DYS), the Oregon Client Process Monitoring System (CPMS), and the
Oregon Youth Authority's Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS).
survey data, and administrative records data
face-to-face interview
These data contain demographic variables on the
respondent including age, gender, race, where they live (in a house,
apartment, shelter, etc.), with whom they live, and the primary source
of their caregiver's income. Further information on the respondent
includes JBTC program assignment, substance abuse risk score, total
risk score, and DYS risk assessment status. Respondents were asked
about their history of alcohol and/or other drug use including
lifetime use, age at first use, frequency of use in the past 6
months, and frequency of use in the past 30 days of the following:
tobacco products, alcohol, marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine,
amphetamines, inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin,
barbiturates/tranquilizers, and designer drugs (ecstasy, etc.), and if
they had ever received any alcohol and/or drug treatment or education.
Respondents were also asked if they had ever been diagnosed with
attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADD/ADHD), bi-polar disorder, anger management issues, post traumatic
stress disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and if they had ever
received any in-patient or out-patient mental health treatment. To
assess their prior contact with the juvenile justice system,
respondents were asked about their prior arrests, age at first arrest,
and prior time on probation, in detention, on parole, or in a
diversion program. Respondents were asked about family history of
severe drug or alcohol problems, criminal background, contact with
family members, and relationship with family members. Respondents were
also asked about their school status (enrollment, grades, days missed,
etc.), involvement in gang activity, involvement in sexual activity,
whether they carried a weapon (gun, knife, stick, etc.), and whether
they had ever been threatened with or threatened someone with a
weapon. Data collected from DYS include the number of drug tests the
respondent had taken between the baseline interview and 6-month
follow-up interview and between the 6-month follow-up interview and
the 12-month follow up interview, as well as the number of positive
drug tests and the drugs that the respondent tested positive for.
Baseline interviews were completed by 306 of 925
study-eligible juveniles for a response rate of 33 percent. A total of
208 6-month follow-up interviews and 183 12-month follow-up interviews
were completed for subject retention rates of 68 percent and 60
percent, respectively.
Several Likert-type scales were used.