Effects of Multisystemic Treatment on Serious Juvenile Offenders - Essay Example

Effects of Multisystemic Treatment on Serious Juvenile Offenders Student’s Name Institution Effects of Multisystemic Treatment on Serious Juvenile Offenders Introduction The aim of the following essay is to address the effects of multisystemic treatment on serious juvenile offenders. The paper outlines these effects by reviewing the empirical article Multisystemic treatment of serious offenders: Long-term prevention of criminality and violence. This essay is divided into four parts: a demonstration of the relevance of the selected article to the topic, a summary of research methods and findings outlined in it, importance of the study described in it, and the limitations of the study. The key terms in the essay are defined in the next paragraph. As outlined in the article, it is evident that MST offers long-term remedy to serious juvenile offenders. The key terms used in the essay include multisystemic therapy (MST), juvenile offenders and serious offences. MST is a rigorous family-based treatment plan that is focused at addressing the environmental factors that affect serious juvenile offenders. Juvenile offenders imply the adolescents who engage in criminal behaviour that is punishable by the law. Serious offences in this essay are defined as significant violations of the law, which attract imprisonment terms of at least six months (Mulder, Brand, Bullens, & Marle, 2010). Relevance of the Selected Article to the Topic Most of the prevention programs that have been developed to see into the juvenile issue are not effective enough and have not been able to correct problem. This calls for the development of effective measures that target youths who are at the highest risk of engaging in serious criminal acts. The serious juvenile offenders are, by comparison, at the highest risk of becoming repeat offenders of serious criminal acts. This is why it is important to set up effective strategies that can help deter the juveniles from engaging in serious criminal acts and promoting positive living among these youths (Sawyer & Borduin, 2011). The current empirical treatments, which are well-structured and skill-oriented, have impacted positively on the serious juvenile offenders. Despite such successes, the clinical trials with the juvenile offenders demonstrate otherwise. The trials show that such treatments do not translate into long-term impacts on these offenders. The failure of these treatments is attributed to their vague focus to address the antisocial behaviours among the juveniles in a multi-determined perspective (Lipsey, 2009). Consequently, the selected article is relevant to the topic as it outlines an empirical study of a clinical trial involving serious adolescent offenders. The study featured in this article demonstrates that effective strategies are the ones that address and evaluate multiple causes of the serious antisocial behaviours among the adolescents. The study helps to ascertain the fact that MST is one of the most efficient interventions that can be used in the treatment of serious juvenile offenders and to establish the factors that push them to engage in such offences. MST can also be used as effective interventions in a case of abusive and neglectful parents. The study, with its significant methodological improvements, such as longer follow-up duration for re-arrests and use of larger sample size, helps to prove the efficacy of MST in assisting serious juvenile offenders to desist from such crimes and adopting a positive living (Borduin et al., 1995). A Summary of the Research Methods and Findings The main purpose of the study outlined in the journal article was to examine and compare the long-term impact that MST and individual therapy have on the serious juvenile offenders in relation to prevention measures. The study sought to determine whether MST is more effective than individual therapy in offering long term preventive measures for juvenile offenders who are at a greater risk of engaging in more serious offences. To ensure more precise results than those of the previous studies, the current study improved its methodology by using longer follow-up time for re-arrests and larger sample size (Borduin et al., 1995). The study used a larger sample size consisting of 200 participants; the 200 hundred subjects were drawn from the families that had juvenile offenders of between 12 and 17 years. All of these families were referred to the study by juvenile court personnel and they agreed to participate voluntarily. All of the adolescents from these families had a record of detainment for a period not less than one month. Out of the 200 participants, only 176 were able to complete the pre-treatment assessments and the treatment process after 25 refused to take part in the project (Borduin et al., 1995). The study used effective strategies to evaluate the families to be included as participants and the procedures used for data collection. The participants were drawn from the families with adolescents who had records of serious criminal acts. The MST was provided to the participants by 3 male and 3 female graduates in clinical psychology. The individual therapy on the other hand was administered by 3 male and 3 female therapists. For MST instrumental and ultimate goals related outcomes measurements, a multimethod assessment was used. Self reports provided on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and mothers’ reports presented on the 89-item Revised Behaviour Problem Checklist were used to assess psychiatric symptomatology and adolescent behaviour issues respectively (Borduin et al., 1995). Perceived functioning of the participants, which is another aspect of the study, was measured using the 30-item Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales while observable family relations were assessed using the nine-item Unrevealed Differences Questionnaire. The last aspect, peer relations, was evaluated using the thirteen-item Missouri Peer Relations Inventory. The criminal records of the adolescent participants were obtained from the department of public safety, juvenile courts and local police stations (Borduin et al., 1995). The results of the study support the topic of this essay, which states that MST has positive long-term effects on most serious juvenile offenders. The results show that MST impact positively on family interactions and perceived family relations. MST helps to reduce symptomatology in parents, a factor that pushes parents to neglect their children. It also helps to decrease serious anti-social behaviours in adolescents. The most important result of the study shows that MST provides long standing change in criminal behaviours among the adolescents. From the study, it is evident that adolescents treated with MST are less likely to re-engage in serious criminal acts and hence, less likely to be re-arrested (Borduin et al., 1995). The researchers of this study concluded that setting up comprehensive strategies that address multiple causes of antisocial behaviours in youths is the most effective way of dealing with serious juvenile offenders. MST is one of such strategies that can be used to reduce criminal acts and other serious antisocial behaviours in adolescents. The researchers maintain that most of the antisocial behaviours in youths are caused by parental neglect and environmental influences (Borduin et al., 1995). Contribution of the Article to the Topic The continuous engagement of juveniles in criminal acts has been a serious problem to the government as well as the communities from where they hail from. The greatest problem about this issue is developing mechanisms that can provide long-term prevention of serious violence among the youths. The study in the article describes the importance of using MST to prevent serious antisocial behaviours among the youths. The findings of the study are important as they provide a long-term remedy to serious criminal offences committed by the youths (Borduin, Schaeffer, Cindy, & Heiblum, 2009). As demonstrated by the findings of the study, adolescents that complete the MST process are at lower risk of being re-arrested as a result engaging of the similar offences or more serious ones as compared to the offensive youths who do not undergo the therapy. The researchers found out that most of the youths that did not complete the MST process during the study, engaged in more serious criminal acts and had been re-arrested on several occasions. Therefore, it is advisable to encourage adolescents who are at greater risks of committing serious crimes to complete the MST procedures for them to get long-term solutions to their problems (Butler, Baruch, Hickey, & Fonagy, 2011). MST also assists in the assessment of juvenile delinquency through its ability to assess multiple determinants of adolescent crimes. MST examines factors such as parental disturbance, behaviour issues, problematic family relations, deteriorating school performance, and relation with peers who behave badly. No major study has examined all these factors at the same time and none has ever regarded them as serious causes of juvenile delinquency. The current study shows that these are the most serious causes of criminal acts in youths and they should be considered when looking for a long-lasting solution of the adolescent issue (Borduin et al., 1995). Limitations of the Study Although the current study obtained better results than those of the previous ones, it had a few limitations. Firstly, the current study did not investigate the relationship between MST and demographic characteristics such as age and social class. Secondly, the study failed to optimise the treatment outcomes, which are supposed to be used to prevent the serious clinical problems among youths who are at a higher risk of engaging in criminal activities. However, these limitations can easily be taken care of in the future studies that address a similar phenomenon by inclusion of simple strategies in the methodology. The first limitation can be addressed by including Statistical Index of Recidivism, which measures more than four demographic characteristics at the same time. The second problem can be corrected by designing the future studies in such a way that they become child-centred, flexible, comprehensive, environmentally valid, and family focused (Mulder, Brand, Bullens, & Marle, 2010). Conclusion This main aim of this study was to establish the effects of multisystemic treatment (MST) on serious juvenile offenders who are at a greater risk of re-engaging in more serious crimes. MST is a rigorous family-based treatment plan that addresses environmental factors, which affect serious juvenile offenders, their homes, schools and neighbourhoods. It is proven that more adolescents than adults engage in more serious crimes. The major problem has been to develop long lasting solutions to the problem of juvenile crime. The article reviewed in this essay provides a long-term prevention of this issue. As evidenced by the study in the article, MST of serious juvenile offenders is the most effective long-term prevention of criminality and violence among them. References Borduin, C. M., Cone, L. T., Mann, B. J., Henggeler, S. C., Fucci, B. R., Blaske, D. M., & Williams, R. A. (1995). Multisystemic treatment of serious juvenile offenders: Long-term prevention of criminality and violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(4), 569-578. Borduin, C. M., Schaeffer, C. M., Cindy, M., & Heiblum, N. (2009). A randomised clinical trial of multisystemic therapy with juvenile sexual offenders: Effects of youth social ecology and criminal activity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(1), 26-37. Butler, S., Baruch, G., Hickey, N., & Fonagy, P. (2011). A randomised controlled trial of multisystemic therapy and a statutory therapeutic intervention for young offenders. Journal of the American of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50(12), 1220-1235. Lipsey, M. W. (2009). The primary factors that characterise effective interventions with juvenile offenders: A meta-analytic overview. An International Journal of Evidence-based Research, Policy, and Practice, 4(2), 124-147. Mulder, E., Brand, E., Bullens, R., & Marle, H. (2010). A classification of risk factors in serious juvenile offenders and the relation between patterns of risk factors and recidivism. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 20(1), 23-38. Sawyer, A. M., & Borduin, C. M. (2011). Effects of multisystemic therapy through midlife: A 21.9-year follow-up to a randomised clinical trial with serious and violent juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(5), 643-652. Read More