Beliefs About What Works in Juvenile Rehabilitation

Abstract

Throughout the past half century, public sentiment about sentencing of offenders has vacillated between rehabilitative and punitive goals. Whether these shifting positions are influenced by actual knowledge regarding program effectiveness or merely reflect underlying attitudes is unknown. The current study used an online survey to examine college students' ( N = 130) judgments about the effectiveness of different interventions for juvenile offenders. Results indicated that participants rated three popular but empirically unsupported (get tough) programs as being equally effective as four empirically validated treatments. However, personal attitudes were a strong moderator of program effectiveness ratings. For example, those endorsing rehabilitative goals were more likely to rate empirically supported interventions as effective. A punishment orientation was associated with endorsement of get tough programs. Possible follow-up studies include evaluating the connection between attitudes and program effectiveness knowledge, examining the impact of educational interventions, and conducting replications with justice professionals and community leaders.