Juvenile Justice-involved Youth Research Articles

Mental Health Aftercare Availability for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth in New York City.

The goal of our study was to describe the availability of community child and adolescent mental health services, trauma-informed care, and the geographic accessibility of these services for juvenile justice-involved (JJ) youth who received mental health services while in secure detention. Data collection occurred through direct contact with the child and adolescent outpatient clinics listed on the New York State Office of Mental Health website. Zip codes were collected from the juvenile secure detention census. Of the clinics contacted, 88.5 percent accepted JJ youth; however, 43.5 percent accepted them on a conditional basis. Only 62.1 percent offered trauma-informed care, including evidence-based interventions and unspecified care. Although 84.5 percent of the clinics that would accept this population reported currently accepting new patients, reported wait times were as high as six or more months. When JJ residents' home zip codes and those of the clinics were geographically mapped, there were few clinics in the zip codes where most residents lived. The clinics that accepted youth on a conditional basis often refused high-risk patients, essentially ruling out a large majority of this population. The geographical inaccessibility of these clinics limits their ability to provide care for this vulnerable population.

Sports Involvement, Head Injury, and Delinquency: Evidence From a Sample of Juvenile Justice Involved Youth

Previous research suggests that youth sports participation is moderately associated with reduced delinquency. However, little is known about whether head injury dampens this protective role of sports involvement. This study analyzes data from a sample of juvenile justice involved youth to assess (a) the relationship between sports involvement and head injury, (b) whether groups of sports involved youth with and without a head injury report varying levels of general, violent, and/or nonviolent delinquency, and (c) potential sex differences across these group. Results suggest that sports participation is not associated with head injury. Nonsports involved youth with a head injury report higher levels of general and violent delinquency, compared to nonsports involved youth without a head injury. Sports involved females with a head injury report higher levels of general and violent delinquency, compared to sports involved males with a head injury. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

183. Advancing the Health of Juvenile Justice Involved Youth: The Efficacy of a Peer Health Education Curriculum at a Juvenile Detention Facility

183. Advancing the Health of Juvenile Justice Involved Youth: The Efficacy of a Peer Health Education Curriculum at a Juvenile Detention Facility

Pathways from early childhood maltreatment to adolescent dating violence: The role of traumatic stress and substance use among juvenile justice-involved youth.

Pathways from early childhood maltreatment to adolescent dating violence: The role of traumatic stress and substance use among juvenile justice-involved youth.

Cumulative trauma, adversity, and loss among juvenile justice-involved girls: Implications for health disparities.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are social determinants of health that increase morbidity and mortality and are prevalent among juvenile justice-involved (JJI) youth. ACEs drive health-risk behaviors (e.g., substance use) that reflect maladaptive coping, increase arrest risk, and overlap with posttraumatic risk-seeking theoretically and reckless/self-destructive behaviors diagnostically. However, little is known, especially among girls, about cumulative developmental adversity burden distress (i.e., total cumulative/lifespan stressor reactivity, grief-specific and adversity-related symptoms, and adversity-driven maladaptive coping strategies by age 18) and associated health risk impacts. Therefore, we assessed (a) developmental adversity burden indicators capturing expanded ACEs (E-ACEs; reflecting cumulative losses and traumatic events), cumulative distress, and risk characteristics; (b) potential racial/ethnic differences in developmental adversity burden; and (c) predictors of maladaptive coping among 223 JJI girls. Participants averaged 15 E-ACEs, endorsing 61.0% of stressor reactivity reactions, 58.4% of cumulative grief-specific symptoms, 55.7% (avoidance) to 73.2% (arousal) of adversity-related symptoms, and 45.0% of adversity-driven maladaptive coping strategies. White JJI girls endorsed significantly higher stressor reactivity and maladaptive coping than Latina girls (e.g., 38.8% vs. 14.6% suicide attempts), ds = 0.56-0.71. Adaptive LASSO analyses of maladaptive coping highlighted primary contributions from stressor reactivity, arousal alterations (excluding reckless/self-destructive behaviors), and cognition/mood alterations but not E-ACEs, grief, avoidance, or intrusions. Participants reported high levels of all cumulative developmental adversity burden indicators (e.g., 81.6% reported reckless/self-destructive behaviors). Results support cumulative, adversity-informed, universal precautions and assessments. Further, emotion regulation interventions targeting stressor reactivity, cognition/mood alterations, and/or arousal alterations may be useful for JJI youth with maladaptive coping.

Extragenital Sexually Transmitted Infections Testing During COVID-19 Pandemic Among Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System.

Studies have shown lower screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear how the pandemic affected STI testing among juvenile justice-involved youth, especially for extragenital gonorrhea and chlamydia. Retrospective chart review was conducted between March 2020 and June 2021 utilizing electronic health records of youth seen at a preadjudication facility in the southwest United States. Rates of extragenital testing were compared with prepandemic rates. Overall, 574 youth were observed; 86% were male, mean age was 15.4 years, and 48.6% were Black. Of the youth reporting performing oral sex, 57% were tested for oropharyngeal STIs compared to 33.5% in 2018 to 2019. Twenty percent of those reporting anal receptive sex were tested for rectal infections compared to 25.9% before the pandemic. Pandemic testing for oropharyngeal STIs increased but rectal testing decreased. Overall, testing rates remained low.

Juvenile Detention and Primary Care Utilization: Are They Related?

There is little information on the health care utilization habits of juvenile justice-involved youth. We evaluated whether health care utilization trends after discharge from a juvenile detention facility are associated with a decreased risk of future detention. A retrospective chart review was conducted for youth admitted to a juvenile detention facility from November 1, 2017, to October 31, 2018. Youth who accessed primary care (PC) appeared less likely to be readmitted to juvenile detention compared to those who did not access PC, with the greatest increase in readmissions occurring between days 30 and 60 and slowing after day 90. PC access and health care utilization may be associated with a decreased risk of future detention; however, additional research is needed to further explore this potential linkage.

Barriers to School Reentry: Perceptions of School Reentry Among Detained and Committed Youth

Juvenile justice-involved youth, despite their history of poor academic performance, have high educational aspirations for their post-release life. However, few expect to meet their educational aspirations. Barriers in the transition from the juvenile justice setting to the community contribute to the disconnect between youths’ educational aspirations and expectations. However, to date, few studies have included the perspectives of incarcerated youth in assessing barriers to educational attainment. This study addresses the gap in the literature using data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement to examine self-reported barriers to meeting the educational aspiration of attending at least some college. Results indicate a lack of interest in school among juvenile justice-involved youth to be the most prevalent and significant barrier to higher educational expectations, despite self-reported high aspirations. We discuss policy implications to improve the reentry process and increase school attachment.

PTSD Among Families of Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: Relation to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Problems

PTSD Among Families of Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: Relation to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Problems

Spotlight on Juvenile Justice: Intersecting the Child Welfare System

Crossover youth include youth who have experienced maltreatment and engage in delinquent behaviors.1 Dual-system youth – or crossover youth with prior or current involvement in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems (45-70% of juvenile justice-involved youth)1 – represent a particularly vulnerable population. When compared with juvenile justice-involved youth without maltreatment or child welfare history, crossover and dual-system youth are disproportionately Black or Indigenous American, female, and/or sexually minoritized, and have higher mental health needs and service use.1 A study examining young adult outcomes in New York City found that nearly 15% of foster care youth and 57% of dually involved youth experienced incarceration within 6 years of leaving the child welfare system.2 In addition to poor outcomes associated with juvenile or criminal justice involvement, dually involved youth are at increased risk for poor adulthood outcomes related to education, employment, physical and mental health, homelessness, and further criminal justice involvement.2

Haitian and Haitian American experiences of racism and socioethnic discrimination in Miami-Dade county: At-risk and court-involved youth.

We examine how juvenile justice-involved youth of Haitian descent in Miami-Dade County cope with structural racism and its impact on their mental health. Drawing on longitudinal ethnography, psychosocial assessment data, and a family-based clinical intervention funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this article explores youth narratives of discrimination prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use critical race theory and theory of practice to understand youths' perceptions as racialized bodies and stigmatized selves, highlighting the experiences and perspectives of a particular black immigrant group, ethnic beings caught up in the everyday practices of racialization, sociocultural marginalization, and racism. We frame these experiences as a variation of the complex continuum of structural racism and racial domination in the US. These experiences have caused anger, fear, anxiety, chronic anticipatory distress, and hopelessness among youth of Haitian descent. We conclude with some recommendations for therapeutic support that encourages youth to process their experiences, promotes their development of a positive self-concept, and provides them with mind-body techniques to attenuate the physical impacts of discriminatory events. The clinical trial registration number for this study intervention is NCT03876171.

Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: Preventive Health Services Received Prior to Detention.

Few studies on youth in the juvenile justice system describe preventive services received at community health visits. We determined preventive services received at their most recent visit to a health care provider through a cross-sectional survey of youth at a detention center. Data on their health outcomes were abstracted from medical records. Many did not receive comprehensive screenings for sexual health, mental health symptoms, or substance use at well-child visits in the past year. Health outcomes were not significantly different from those who did not attend a well visit in the past year. Limited preventive screenings could explain why well checks did not influence health outcomes; therefore, providers should incorporate recommended screenings into sick visits as well as preventive visits.

A psychometric assessment of the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire for Marijuana (BSCQ-M) in juvenile justice-involved youth

Cannabis refusal self-efficacy, defined as confidence in the ability to refuse cannabis or to avoid cannabis use, is associated with decreased cannabis use. Juvenile justice-involved youth are at high risk for cannabis use and may have lower refusal self-efficacy. While court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) and incarcerated youth are groups that are both at high-risk for cannabis use, the experience of incarceration may impact the measurement of refusal self-efficacy for cannabis. The factor structure, measurement invariance, and concurrent validity of the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire for Cannabis (BSCQ-M) was assessed among CINI (n = 148) and incarcerated (n = 199) youth (80.7% male, Mage = 16.3). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a correlated 3-factor model including positive/good times, negative internal, and negative external situational factors best fit the data. Multigroup measurement invariance testing revealed that the BSCQ-M demonstrated configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance across CINI and incarcerated samples, indicating measurement invariance across the two groups. Negative binomial regressions revealed that BSCQ-M scores were significantly negatively associated with concurrent cannabis use. Results suggest that the BSCQ-M is a brief, psychometrically sound measure of refusal self-efficacy for cannabis among juvenile justice-involved youth that can be utilized with both CINI and incarcerated youth.

JUVENILE JUSTICE-INVOLVED YOUTH AND TRAUMA

Participants will apply knowledge of childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences as relevant to juvenile justice-involved youth. Participants will practice using their knowledge about trauma to juvenile justice case examples. Participants will collaboratively develop treatment plans using knowledge gained of services available to juvenile justice-involved youth. The majority of this Workshop will be interactive. The first section will involve understanding the impact of childhood trauma on juvenile justice-involved youth. Participants will first be provided a didactic-style overview on the topic. Participants will then participate in facilitated small groups to apply knowledge of trauma to 2 juvenile justice-involved case examples. The framework of the small groups will use mock trial role-play. The second section will focus on services for juvenile justice-involved youth. Participants will be provided a didactic-style overview of services available to juvenile justice-involved youth with a focus on trauma services. Participants will then engage in facilitated small groups to generate treatment and service plans for the 2 case examples. Participants will gain and apply knowledge of how to communicate in a juvenile court setting and how to discuss juvenile justice-involved youth using a trauma-informed framework. Participants will practice their communication of these complex topics in a realistic mock trial role-play. Participants will gain further understanding of trauma services available to youth in the juvenile justice system as well as potential barriers and limitations to obtaining appropriate evidence-based services when practicing in the real world. Exposure to trauma is nearly ubiquitous in the juvenile justice system. Therefore, it is critical that child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychologists understand the impact of trauma exposure on juvenile justice-involved youth. Participants will gain valuable skills through this Workshop so that they can better communicate to the courts how to understand and appropriately intervene when working with traumatized youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

Hostile, Quick-Tempered, and Exposed to Dangerous Environments: Exploring the Link Between Temperament and the Street Code Adherence

Although Elijah Anderson’s code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of DeLisi and Vaughn’s difficult temperament index in the adoption of the street code among a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. Results indicated youth with more difficult temperaments, characterized by lower levels of effortful control and higher levels of negative emotionality, were more likely to report greater street code adherence. Implications for juvenile justice policy and future research are discussed.

Implementation of the Wolverine Mental Health Program, Part 1: Adoption Phase

Residential treatment facilities (RTFs) are a first-line treatment option for juvenile justice-involved youth. However, RTFs rarely offer evidence-based interventions for youth with internalizing or externalizing mental health problems. Wolverine Human Services (WHS) is one of the first RTFs in the nation to implement cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to enhance mental health care for their youth. This study outlines the preimplementation phase of a 5-year collaborative CBT implementation effort among WHS, the Beck Institute, and an implementation science research team. The preimplementation phase included a needs assessment across two sites of WHS to identify and prioritize barriers to CBT implementation. Of the 76 unique barriers, 23 were prioritized as important and feasible to address. Implementation teams, consisting of clinician and staff champions and opinion leaders, worked across 8 months to deploy 10 strategies from a collaboratively designed blueprint. Upon reevaluation of the needs assessment domains, all prioritized barriers to CBT implementation were removed and WHS’s readiness for CBT implementation was enhanced. This study serves as a model of a preimplementation process that can be employed to enhance the potential for successful evidence-based practice implementation in youth RTFs.

Remote delivery of a therapeutic intervention to court-mandated youths of Haitian descent during COVID-19.

The threat generated by the COVID‐19 pandemic has triggered sudden institutional changes in an effort to reduce viral spread. Restrictions on group gatherings and in‐person engagement have increased the demand for remote service delivery. These restrictions have also affected the delivery of court‐mandated interventions. However, much of the literature has focused on populations that voluntarily seek out face‐to‐face medical care or mental health services, whereas insufficient attention has been paid to telehealth engagement of court‐mandated populations. This article draws on data gathered on an NIH/NIDA‐funded study intervention implemented with juvenile justice‐involved youths of Haitian heritage in Miami‐Dade County, Florida, during the COVID‐19 public health crisis. We explore the process of obtaining consent, technological access issues, managing privacy, and other challenges associated with remote delivery of family‐based therapy to juvenile justice‐involved youth. Our aim is to provide some insights for consideration by therapists, healthcare workers, advocates, researchers, and policymakers tasked with finding alternative and safer ways to engage nontraditional populations in health services. The clinical trial registration number is NCT03876171.

All in the family: parental substance misuse, harsh parenting, and youth substance misuse among juvenile justice-involved youth

PurposeResearch consistently connects parental and youth substance misuse, yet less is known about the mechanisms driving this association among justice-involved youth. We examine whether harsh parenting is an explanatory mechanism for the association between parental substance use and parental mental health and youth substance use disorder in a sample of justice-involved youth. MethodsData were drawn from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a large-scale longitudinal survey of mental health and substance misuse in a representative sample of youth in juvenile detention. Harsh parenting, child maltreatment, youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder, and parental substance misuse and mental health were assessed among 1,825 detained youth (35.95% female) at baseline, three-year follow-up, and four-year follow-up. ResultsAt baseline, over 80% of youth used alcohol and/or cannabis; at the four-year follow-up, 16.35% and 19.69% of the youth were diagnosed with alcohol and cannabis use disorder, respectively. More than 20% of youth reported their parent misused substances and 6.11% reported a parent had a severe mental health need. Black youth experienced significantly fewer types of harsh parenting compared to White youth. Multivariate path analyses revealed harsh parenting mediated the association between parental substance misuse and mental health on youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder. Harsh parenting that does not rise to the level of child maltreatment mediated the association between parental substance misuse and mental health on youth alcohol use disorder; in contrast, child maltreatment did not mediate these associations. Multigroup analyses revealed the effect of harsh parenting on youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder did not vary across sex or race-ethnic subgroups. ConclusionsHarsh parenting represents one mechanism for the intergenerational continuity of alcohol and cannabis misuse and should be regularly assessed for and addressed in juvenile justice settings.

Enhancing Treatment Engagement in “Treatment Resistant” Incarcerated Youth

ABSTRACT Incarcerated juvenile offenders mandated into treatment in correctional settings are often characterized as “treatment resistant.” Despite the extensive literature and increasingly widespread adoption of evidence-based practices that address the treatment needs of this population (e.g., MST, DBT, T-CBT), there is little writing on the actual process of engaging juvenile justice-involved youth in productive therapeutic work. Yet, the stakes of low engagement and failed treatments are high – including chronification of delinquent behavior and risk of becoming further embroiled in the criminal justice system. Drawing on the writer’s training in Mentalization-Based Treatment for Adolescents (MBT-A) and Developmental-Relational Therapy (DRT), this paper will discuss population and setting-specific barriers to engagement and use composite case material to outline the “nuts and bolts” of setting up productive treatments with juvenile offenders with histories of developmental trauma including setting the frame, formulating goals, practical tools of engagement, and navigating inevitable ruptures in the therapeutic relationship.

The school-to-prison pipeline for probation youth with special education needs.

Juvenile justice-involved youth with special education eligibility may have distinct needs from other justice-involved youth that place them at higher risk of re-offending. This study examines the extent to which the comorbidity of risk factors, such as school challenges and mental and emotional health problems, is related to recidivism among probation youth with a diagnosis eligible for special education. Data came from the Washington State Juvenile Court Assessment provided to 4,317 youth adjudicated to probation for at least 3 months. We used independent sample t-tests and chi-square tests to assess the difference in mental health and school problems (e.g., suspension/expulsion history) between those with and without special education needs. Multiple regression models estimated the unique and cumulative role of special education status, mental health, and school problems in future recidivism. In the study sample, 39.6% (n = 1,708) of the youth had diagnoses eligible for special education; over 42% of these youth had two or more qualifying diagnoses. Controlling for demographics, mental health, and self-regulation skills, our findings suggest that probation youth with special education needs, compared to the rest of the probation youth, were more likely to recidivate. School exclusion increased the number of recidivisms significantly more for justice-involved youth with special education needs than those without special education needs. The findings of the study illuminate important factors for continued justice-involvement as well as insights into service and treatment planning for youth serving probation in the community, especially for those who are eligible for special education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).