Community-based and family-focused alternatives to incarceration: A quasi-experimental evaluation of interventions for delinquent youth

- Parenting with Love and Limits (PLL) is a family-focused intervention for at-risk and delinquent youth.
- Using Propensity Score Matching, the research team evaluated the effectiveness of the PLL model.
- Cost benefit analysis was also conducted on the sample of offenders.
- Those who participated in PLL had, on average, lower recidivism rates.
- Compared to residential confinement, PLL cost taxpayers less money and achieved better outcomes for troubled youth.

PurposePrior research documented the efficacy of family-centered interventions at reducing juvenile delinquency. Parenting with Love and Limits® (PLL), a community-based and family-focused approach to treating juvenile offenders was piloted in Florida as part of the Florida Redirection Project enacted by the state legislature to divert youth from residential facilities to community-based services.MethodsUsing propensity score matching, all youth who completed the PLL program in Florida during the three-year period from fiscal years 2007-08 through 2009-10 (n = 92), were matched to similar risk youth who completed residential services during the same time period (n = 92) and compared to examine 12-month, post-intervention recidivism outcomes.ResultsResults revealed that youth completing PLL had, on average, lower rates of recidivism. The community-based intervention achieved lower rates of reconviction, felony conviction, and subsequent justice system placement (juvenile and adult) one year following the completion of services.FindingsThese findings suggest that community-based programs that integrate family-focused individual and group therapy may be an effective alternative to more restrictive, institutional placements for delinquent youth.