Description:
Juvenile offending and anti-social behavior are enormous societal concerns. This broad-reaching volume summarizes the current evidence on prevention, diversion, causes, and rates of delinquency, as well as assessment of risk and intervention needs. A distinguished cast of contributors from law, psychology, and psychiatry describe what we know about interventions in school, community, and residential contexts, focusing particularly on interventions that are risk reducing and cost effective. Equally important, each chapter comments on what is not well supported through research, distinguishing aspects of current practice that are likely to be effective from those that are not and mapping new… directions for research, policy, and practice. Finally, the volume provides a description of a model curriculum for training legal and mental health professionals on conducting relevant assessments of adolescents for the courts. Effectively bridging research and practice, this will be an important resource for legal and mental health professionals involved in the juvenile justice system, policy makers seeking humane but effective interventions in the context of society's need for safety, and those involved in teaching about and training in juvenile delinquency.
Author bio:
Kirk Heilbrun is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology, Drexel University. His current research focuses on juvenile and adult offenders, legal decision-making, and the evaluation and interventions associated with such decision-making. He is the Co-Director of the Pennsylvania Mental Health and Justice Center of Excellence, having previously served as president of both the American Psychology-Law Psychology/APA Division 41, and the American Board of Forensic Psychology. He received the 2004 Distinguished Contributions to Forensic Psychology award and the 2008 Beth Clark Distinguished Service Contribution Award from the American Academy of Forensic Psychology.