Citation

Turner CW, Robbins MS, Winokur Early K, Blankenship JL, Weaver LR. Crim. Justice Behav. 2019; 46(5): 697-717.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0093854818813184

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Families (n = 5,884) received Functional Family Therapy (FFT) provided as part of court-ordered probation services by 11 community sites throughout Florida. Sites provided home-based FFT to families with male (72%) or female (28%) delinquent youth. Juvenile justice courts referred clients to these services in an effort to redirect them away from incarceration. Clients were Hispanic (18%), Black (41%), and White non-Hispanic (36%), while therapists (female, 79%) were of Hispanic (28%), Black (20%), and White non-Hispanic (50%) ethnic/racial origins. Analyses of clients' pretreatment recidivism risk and therapist's caseload of risky clients demonstrated that both individual and treatment site case-mix of client criminal risk levels were associated with higher adjudicated felony recidivism. Furthermore, clinical process indicators suggest that therapists with larger rather than smaller caseloads of high-risk clients provided treatment with greater fidelity.

RESULTS suggest that experience in working with challenging clients is critical for achieving fidelity with these cases.

Language: en