Do Delinquency-Focused Interventions Delivered During Adolescence Have Long-Term Effects On Young Women's Arrest Rates?

Female delinquency is increasing, with girls now comprising 30% of the juvenile justice population. However, evidence-based models have not been widely tested or implemented with girls in the juvenile justice system. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) is one intervention that has been documented to reduce delinquency during adolescence for juvenile justice-involved girls. Compared to services-as-usual (Group Care; GC), girls randomly assigned to MTFC have lower rates of delinquency (delinquent acts, criminal referral rates, and days in locked settings) in one- and two-year outcome assessments. However, long-term follow-up studies have not been conducted to clarify delinquency trajectories into young adulthood for this highly vulnerable population, and it is unknown whether the effects of MTFC extend to adult arrests and recidivism rates. The present study addresses these gaps.

Method: The sample included 166 females [mean (SD) age = 15.3 (1.2) years; 68% Caucasian] who participated in a randomized controlled trial of MTFC during adolescence. In the original study, girls who were referred for out-of-home care due to chronic delinquency were randomized into MTFC (n = 81) versus GC (n = 85). The participation rate during the young adult assessment nearly a decade later was 92%. Criminal records data were collected during adolescence (juvenile justice records) and adulthood (adult jail and prison records), over the 9-year study period. The primary outcome measure was a weighted index of the number and severity of criminal referrals occurring in the 9 years post-baseline.

Results: Relative to GC, young women who had been randomly assigned to MTFC during adolescence had significantly fewer criminal referrals (p < .05). The number of criminal referrals since baseline was 9.07 (SD = 1.62) for women who had been in MTFC and 10.56 (SD = 1.24) for women who had been in GC. These effects remained significant when pre-baseline offenses and time to follow-up were controlled (R² = .22).

Conclusions: Previous studies documented the effects of MTFC on juvenile offense rates; this is the first study of which we are aware to examine outcomes of an evidence-based intervention into adulthood, in a female juvenile justice population. The results suggest that MTFC shows sustained effects for girls across two correctional systems (juvenile justice and adult corrections). Given that it is estimated that only 9% of the juvenile offenders (of both genders) in the US receive evidence-based interventions, additional research into the cost effectiveness and implementation of MTFC is warranted.