Youth offender reentry: Models for intervention and directions for future inquiry

Youth who return to the community following incarceration face high odds of repeat contact with the criminal justice system and major barriers to educational and vocational attainment. Existing models for reentry interventions typically seek to address the individual offender's risks for repeat involvement in crime. However, these interventions have not significantly or consistently reduced recidivism. The relatively greater successes of family-based interventions, combined with a body of compelling “neighborhood effects” theory and research signal the importance of developing and testing interventions for returning youth offenders that address the multi-layered social context(s) in which reentry occurs. Drawing on advances in neighborhood effects theory and spatial technologies, the authors provide a rationale for the development and testing of ecologically-driven juvenile reentry interventions and suggest several directions for future research.