What Works with Adolescents Who Have Offended: Theory, Research, and Practice

Promising, evidence-based practices in prevention and intervention work with adolescents involved with the youth justice system

With scholarly discussions of theory, policy, and research defining the field, What Works with Adolescents Who Have Offended delivers the latest evidence-based practices in prevention and intervention work with adolescents involved with the youth justice system. This book explicitly addresses the evidence bases for best practices in applied work and covers influential jurisprudence, policies, and programs implemented across geographical jurisdictions.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section covers clinical presentations and disorders, such as substance use, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, autism, PTSD, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The second section covers distinct groups including adolescent girls, gangs, sexual offenders, and firesetters, along with general race, ethnicity, and cultural considerations. The third section covers the nature of interventions, with information on family therapy approaches, dialectical behavior therapy, and cognitive-behavioral interventions. The last section covers broad considerations and approaches in the field.

With contributions from internationally renowned authorities in the field, What Works with Adolescents Who Have Offended includes discussion on:

• Key conceptual issues, methodological approaches and innovations, diversity of contributions on aetiology, and lifespan perspectives
• Major contributions from major theoretical models, neuroscience, and research in developmental criminology
• Ethical and professional issues in healthcare work with youth-justice involved youth
• Critical reviews of the extant literatures and future directions in the field
• Priorities for research, policy, and practice based on lessons learned throughout the text

The expansive selection of contents and organization of What Works with Adolescents Who Have Offended makes the work valuable to a broad readership, including researchers and academics, practitioners, and legal scholars and policy makers.