Law - Criminal Assignment 4

Developmental Crime Prevention (DCP)

Effectiveness & policy

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Major DCP programs • Parent training programs – E.g., Incredible Years program

• Preschool programs – E.g., Head Start

• Child social skills training – E.g., Montréal Prevention Experiment

• Multi-component programs – E.g., Incredible Years program

PARENT TRAINING

Early parent training • Goal is to address family risk factors

– E.g., improve parental supervision, monitoring, and discipline practices; manage child impulsiveness or other risk factors

• Programs range from expecting mothers to school-age children – Nurse home visitation – Parent training programs

• Piquero et al. (2016) meta-analysis – 78 randomized experimental studies

• Parent training programs with average intervention age <5 • Outcome: child behavior problems (including but not limited to delinquency)

– Average small positive effect: d = .37, range {-0.97, 2.19} • If control group offended at 50% rate, treatment group offended at 32% rate

– Moderator analyses • Smaller programs (<100) more effective • Earlier interventions more effective • US-based interventions more effective

Nurse home visits • Elmira Prenatal/Early Infancy Project

– Home visitation by nurses • Beginning in pregnancy and lasting until age 2 (average 32 visits) • Mothers were randomly assigned to treatment group versus control groups involving

health screening but no visit (i.e. “level 5” quality) – Nurse education for mothers

• Nurses advised on health, providing appropriate care, and social skills development – Several positive outcomes

• Short term = reduced maternal abuse and neglect • Long term = lowered odds of running away, arrest, and drug abuse

– 19-year follow-up found that treatment girls were less likely to be arrested than controls, with no difference for boys (Eckenrode et al., 2010)

• Syracuse Family Development Research Program – Home visitation

• Weekly home visits to young, single African-American mothers while pregnant – Also achieved some positive outcomes

• Compared to non-matched control group (i.e. “level 3” quality)

PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS

Preschool programs

• Developmental rationale for preschool intervention – Antisocial behavior for “life course persistent”

offenders emerges early

• Goal = target early risk factors (ages 3–5) – Establish early competence that avoids placement

in differential ability tracts – Building positive attitude toward school – Providing basic social skills for youths not ready

for school

Preschool programs • Child-based interventions

– Target child-based pathways • Enhancing cognitive skills • Targeting early aggressive behavior • Providing assistance w/ emotional/social development

– For example: • Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) • Tools of Mind curriculum • Good Behavior Game

• Parent-based interventions – Target parent-based pathways

• Parenting skills (esp. discipline practices) • Parent resources (e.g. health services) • Parent human capital (e.g., job training for parents)

– For example: • Head Start • Abecedarian (ABC) program • Chicago Parent-Child Centers (CPC) • Perry Preschool Project

Head Start • Early intervention aimed at school preparation for

disadvantaged youth – Targets social and intellectual skills

• Combines parenting support, parent involvement, social services, mental health services, with educational services

– Largest early education program in the United States

• Evaluations indicate mixed positive/null effects – Some term positive cognitive-emotional outcomes

• Few differences between treatment and control groups by 1st grade – Why no long-term impact?

• Some argue that Head Start is not well implemented – We will see that this is a theme: large programs tend to be less effective!

– No evaluation of delinquency or criminal offending outcomes

Chicago Parent-Child Centers (CPC) • Beginning in 1986, program offers school-based educational

enrichment and family services from preschool through 3rd grade – Eligible families reside in poor neighborhoods that receive federal funds for special programs

(i.e., Title I funds) – Located near schools

• Educational intervention – Basic skills in language and math through structured but diverse learning experiences – 3hrs/day, 5 days/week (plus 6-week summer program) during preschool – School-age services continued for 2–3 years of primary school

• Family service intervention – Intensive parent program

• Parenting education, volunteering in the classroom, attending school events and field trips, advancing educational attainment, and home visitation

• Parents expected to participate in the program for ½ day per week – Health and nutrition services also offered

• Evaluations have indicated positive effects, including lower juvenile arrests by age 18 – Compared to matched control group (i.e., level-4 quality)

Abecedarian (ABC) program • Intensive early educational intervention for children from low-income,

multi-risk families (predominantly African-American) – 111 infants were randomly assigned to treatment versus control (i.e., level-5 quality)

• Mothers were young (mean = 19), unmarried, with less than high school education

– Enrollment through mid-to-late 1970s

• Two phases – Preschool intervention which was initiated at birth, lasting 5 years

• Full-day child care year round with a systematic curriculum (e.g., educational games)

– School-age intervention during first 3 years of public school • Main goal to increase parental involvement in child’s learning

– Individualized curriculum packets developed for each child » Parents encouraged to use them at least 15 min each day with their child

• Families assigned a home–school resource teacher • Supportive social services also provided as needed

• 21-year follow-up evaluation found no significant reduction in criminal offending – No difference in arrests between treatment and control group

• But treatment group less likely to use marijuana (self-report)

HighScope Perry Preschool program • Enrollment from 1962–1965 at Perry elementary school in Ypsilanti, Michigan

– All children were African-American students with low SES, low parental education, low IQ – 123 children randomly assigned to program (58) or control group (65)

• Random experimental design (i.e., level-5 quality)

• Provides students with positive introduction to education – 30 weeks of preschool during year

• 2.5-hour classes every weekday morning – Low child-teacher ratio

• 10 teachers (5.8: 1) – Enhanced reinforcement of achievement

• HighScope early childhood educational model of student-direct activities – Weekly home visits from teacher

• Long-term evaluations (ages 19, 27, 40, and 55) – Found reduced antisocial behavior and adult crime (odds of arrest ~half in treatment group!)

• 5+ lifetime arrests: 36% of treatment group vs. 55% of controls • Any lifetime arrests: 71% vs. 83%

– Other positive outcomes • E.g., increased school achievement and graduation rate, adult employment rate and earnings

– Program benefit: cost ratio estimated 7:1

CHILD SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING

Social skills training • Goal = target individual risk factors – Teach social skills

• I.e., how to deal with others in a prosocial way – Anger management – Self-control – Recognizing emotions – Building positive self-image – Emphasizing with others – Problem solving

• Evaluations are mixed, with small-to-moderate reduction in antisocial behavior – Delinquency and criminal offending usually not focus on

evaluations

Tools of Mind program • Cognitive-behavioral curriculum aimed at

improving self-regulation and executive functioning – Increasing deliberate memory – Focused attention – Regulation of emotions – Improving academic skills (literacy, numeracy)

• Some small RCTs have found small-to-moderate improvement in… – Students’ inhibitory control – Regulation of impulsive and aggressive behaviors

• But no long-term follow-up of criminal offending

Good Behavior Game (GBG) • Classroom behavior management strategy

– Aimed at reducing aggressive and disruptive behavior – Socialize children to the “student” role

• Classrooms of 1st–2nd graders received GBG intervention over 2 years – Intervention delivered by GBG teachers (trained for 40 hours) – Children were divided in 3 heterogeneous teams

• Similar in terms of # of boys and disruptive versus shy children – Teacher stated basic classroom rules of student behavior

• Teams rewarded if committed < 4 violations – Played 3x/week (10 minutes…up 3 hours)

• Implemented in Baltimore public schools in 1985–86 – But no long-term follow-up of criminal offending

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) • Comprehensive skill training system for children from

kindergarten through sixth grade – ABCD model

• Affective-behavioral-cognitive-dynamic of personality development – 120 sessions (20–30 minutes each)

• Feelings and Relationships unit (56 lessons) – Teaches self-control techniques and promotes understanding of emotional and

interpersonal processes • Problem-Solving unit (33 lessons)

– Teaches cognitive interpersonal problem solving • Supplementary unit (31 lessons)

– Reinforces lessons learned • Programs last ~2 years

• May reduce some antisocial behaviors, but… – No significant reduction in self-report delinquency – No long-term follow-up of criminal offending

MULTI-COMPONENT PROGRAMS

Incredible Years Program • Intervention for children aged 2–12 with early conduct

problems and ADHD symptoms – Parenting skills training

• E.g., addressing problem behavior, setting rules and using incentives

– Child social skills training • E.g., dealing with negative emotions, responding appropriately to

problem situations, educational skills

– Teacher training • E.g., classroom management, teaching skills, disciplinary practices

• Since 1987, implemented in hundreds of sites – Short-term results generally positive (e.g., lower conduct problems)

• But not evaluated for long-term impact on criminal offending

Montréal Longitudinal-Experimental Study

• Intervention for at-risk youth (aged 7–9) from low SES – Social skills training at school lunch breaks with groups of 3–5

prosocial children • 1st year: 9 sessions on developing prosocial skills • 2nd year: 10 sessions on self-control skills

– Parent training 2x/month for 2 years

• Random controlled experiment (i.e., level-5 quality) – Treatment, control, and attention-placebo groups

• No differences post-treatment, but . . . – Positive effects at 15-year follows ups for treatment group boys

• Fewer high school dropouts (32% vs. 46%) • Fewer criminal records (22% vs. 33%)

– Sleeper effects!

Seattle Social Development Project • Multimodal intervention administered during elementary school

– Guided by social development theory – Beginning in 1981, intervention randomly assigned to 1st grade

classrooms across 8 public schools in high-crime areas of Seattle • Full intervention = delivered over full course of elementary school • Late intervention = delivered for grades 5–6 only

• 3 components – Teacher training – Child social and emotional skill development – Parent training (voluntary)

• 7-session curriculum in child behavior management skills and 4-session curriculum in skills for supporting academic development

• During grades 5–6, parents offered a 5-session curriculum aimed at reducing problem behaviors (e.g., drug/alcohol use)

• Long-term evaluations indicate several positive outcomes – But did not significantly reduce criminal offending

LONG-TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF DCP PROGRAMS?

Manning et al. (2009) • Meta-analysis of evaluations for early DCP programs

– 17 studies met inclusion criteria (11 programs) • Experimental or quasi-experimental (level-4 quality)

– 11 randomized designs, 6 non-randomized • Programs aimed at children before school (age 0–5) • 7 possible outcomes (including criminal justice involvement and non-criminal deviance) • At least one follow-up during adolescence (or later)

• Effect sizes – CJ involvement: d = .24 (95% CI: .14, .34, p = .00)

• Based on 5 studies only – Largest effects were Syracuse program (d = .48) and Perry Preschool (d = .40)

– Deviance: d = .48 (95% CI: .26, .71, p = .00) • Based on 3 studies only

– Largest effect was Perry Preschool (d = .64)

– Other positive effects • Educational success (d = .53), cognitive development (d = .34), social development (d = .17)

• Moderator analyses – Longer programs more effective (> 3 years) – More intense programs more effective (>500 sessions per participant)

Deković et al. (2010) • Meta-analysis of long-term evaluations for DCP programs

– 9 studies met inclusion criteria (9 programs) • 7 random experiments (“5”), 2 quasi-experimental (“4”) • Programs aimed at children (age 0–12) • Outcome was delinquency or criminal offending • At least one follow-up in adulthood (>18)

• Effect sizes – Criminal offending

• OR = 1.26 (95% CI: 1.06, .50, p=.01) • Small effect (equivalent to a reduction from 50% offending to 44% offending

– Positive outcomes (e.g., academic achievement, pro-social activities) • OR = 1.36 (95% CI: 1.0, 1.55; p=.00)

• Found that… – Only one program significantly reduced criminal offending

• Perry preschool (OR = 3.15; 95% CI = 1.17, 9.50) – 4 had other “positive outcomes”

• Abecedarian program; Chicago Child-Parent Center program; Good Behavior Game program; Montréal Longitudinal Experimental Study

– 4 had no significant positive outcomes • Nurse-Family Partnership; Infant Health and Development program; Seattle Social Development Project; Cambridge-Somerville

Youth Study

• Moderator analyses – At-risk and low-SES children benefit more – Intensive programs work best (even if shorter) – Social and behavior skills > academic skills or family support (i.e., mentoring)