Humane Exposures Blog

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Multisystemic therapy (MST), which is used in more than a dozen countries (including Norway, U.K., The Netherlands and Sweden) and more than 30 U.S. states, has consistently been shown to reduce juvenile corrections facility populations (resulting in the money-saving closure of many of them), and seriously cut down recidivism rates among young participants..

Utilized with the toughest, most violent and most incorrigible youngsters (including chronic drug abusers and kids convicted of sex crimes), MST is an intensive family- and community-based program that addresses all environmental systems which impact chronic young offenders: their homes, schools, neighborhoods and friends.

A 2009 Cook County, IL study on the effects of MST concluded that:

Family- and community-based interventions, especially those with an established evidence-base in treating adolescent antisocial behavior, hold considerable promise in meeting the clinical needs of juvenile sexual offenders.

“In addition, current results supporting MST bring into question the public health/safety effects of the increasingly severe legal consequences (e.g., lifetime public registration, prolonged residential treatment) placed on juveniles who sexually offend.

Unfortunately, fewer than 3% of juvenile offenders currently receive MST treatment.

Charles Borduin of the University of Missouri conducted a 20-year study which found that only 4.3% of MST participants were arrested for violent felonies after treatment, versus 15.5% in the individual-treatment group. They also committed far fewer non-violent felonies and misdemeanors. Borduin estimated that treating one young offender with MST saved taxpayers and crime victims $75,110 to $199,374 over 14 years.

The first U.K. trial of MST
reported:

MST made a great impact on all types of offenses. At the 18-month follow up, 8% of the MST group had offended in the previous six months, compared with 36% of the comparison group.

Canada is currently funding MST research in the hope of preventing or reducing offending among high-risk populations. Connecticut, which used to be one of the only three states that automatically tried and punished all 16 and 17 year-olds as adults, has introduced MST and as a result has so significantly reduced its youth-offender population in detention centers that it was able to close one of the facilities. Pennsylvania has seen similar results in those counties where MST was introduced.

Over the past decade, research (such as into MST) has contributed to recent legislative trends to help distinguish juvenile from adult offenders, restore the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and adopt scientific assessment tools to structure decision-making and identify needs of juvenile offenders. Policies have become more research-based, and youth interventions are moving to more evidence-based versions across a range of programs and services.

Related articles

http://www.healthcanal.com/mental-health-behavior/23552-Treatment-for-Juvenile-Offenders-Shows-Positive-Effects-Years-Later-Including-Reduced-Recidivism-Rates.html

Butler, S., Baruch, G., Hickey, N & Fonagy, P. (2011). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Multisystemic Therapy and a Statutory Therapeutic Intervention for Young Offenders. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50(12), 1220-1235.