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.