A Publication of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges wINTER 2007

Florida's PACT focuses onimproving case assessmentsto benefit courts, youth

• Hunter of Delinquency: What is experience worth?• Hunter of Delinquency: What is experience worth?

Also in this issue:• Cautions About Applying Neuroscience to Battererer Intervention

Also in this issue:• Cautions About Applying Neuroscience to Battererer Intervention

Hundredsofthousandsofyoungpeoplelike A.D. enter the juvenile justice systemeachyear,someinneedofintensivesupervi-sion and strict sanctions, others who wouldbenefitmorefromalowerlevelofinterven-tion. Inorder tomake thosedeterminations,judges need reliable, valid data. To meetthat need, in 2005, Florida’s Department ofJuvenile Justice (DJJ) developed and beganusing the PACT (Positive AchievementChange Tool), an evidence-based assess-ment/casemanagementsystem.Thisinnova-tivetoolisdesignedtoimproveinformationgathering, standardize the risk classificationprocess, and more accurately determine theindividualized risk and needs of young of-fenders.Sinceitisweb-based,automatedandsynchronizedwith thedepartment’sexistinginformation system, it also eases the paper-work overload. Benefits accrue to judges,probationofficers,parents,andespeciallytheyoung people whose futures often hinge onaccurateandmeaningfulassessments.UsingtechniquessuchasMotivationalInterviewingandPrinciplesofEffective Intervention, thePACT is changing the way the Florida DJJmeets its mission to protect the public andreducejuvenilecrime. Grant funds from the U.S. Departmentof Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquencyPreventionandassistancefromAssessments.com enabled Florida’s DJJ toimplement this fourth-generation risk/needsassessment instrument statewide over the

By Darryl Olson

Florida MakesPact with State’s YouthfulOffenders

AA.D. is a 17-year-old male from a divorced family. His father, a degreed professional, pays reasonable child support and remains involved in his life. With a good basic education and good social skills, A.D. was involved in community sports and Boy Scouts as a child, but has little to occupy his time as a

teenager. His two older siblings have previously participated in diversion programs. He generally supports societal values, but associates with anti-social peers. A.D. was arrested for the first time at age 12 for taking a $3 sticker from a store. He successfully completed a civil citation program, largely involving community service, and remained crime-free for approximately three years. When A.D. was 15, his mother moved the family to a low-in-come, high-crime neighborhood. A.D. was arrested at school for disrupt-ing a school function and resisting arrest, and he was arrested in a local club for underage drinking. He was placed on intensive probation with electronic monitoring. A.D. complied with sanctions and was released from intensive probation in nearly the minimum possible time to complete the program. After turning 17, A.D. and four friends were cruising in a family ve-hicle and drinking beer. While stopped at a traffic light, A.D. tossed a beer bottle out the driver’s window. It went through the open window of a car in the next lane and hit the passenger. After some verbal alterca-tions, police were notified and pulled the vehicle over. The youths scat-tered, leaving A.D. to face a violent felony charge of Throwing a Deadly Missile.

Juvenile court judges have a dual responsibility: Our decisions must add to public safety, but also help young of-fenders turn their lives around. Reducing recidivism is an important goal. To accomplish it, judges begin by recognizing a simple fact: Virtually all of the youths who enter our courtrooms, including the ones we com-mit to facilities with intense supervision, will sooner or later return to society. How well we rehabilitate them while under our care is the key to reducing their likelihood to re-offend. In Florida, we are committed to “what works”—evidence-based practices (EBP), and the fundament to that is a good, valid assessment instrument. Prior to the PACT, it was my experience that PDRs (Preliminary Disposition Reports) were generally lacking in sufficient specific information. They usu-ally contained one paragraph on the youth’s parents, one on school, one on priors, and a recommendation. Faced with a critical decision to make, this was not enough information. With the PACT, I get extensive information in 12 important domains, including, in addition to the above, mental health, use of free time, employment, attitudes and behaviors, skills, peer relationships, use of alcohol and drugs, and aggres-sion. Now, I am informed about those issues which led the child toward anti-social behavior, and those which represent strengths that can be built upon to promote a pro-social life. Now, I know when a PDR is well-prepared and when it isn’t.

Now, I have meaningful areas for inquiry in my courtroom. Because the PACT gives me a clear picture of a youth’s whole range of risk and protective factors, my time with him or her can be more interactive and productive, and I can take advantage of those positive things that help the youth overcome adversity. For example, if the assessment tells me a particular child has strengths in the arts and a low level of risk, I might recommend community service with a school theatre department, rather than detention. Another example might relate to what I have learned about the youth’s family. Miami is a tri-lingual community, very culturally diverse, and many families have strong family values. The PACT tells me if there is someone in the family who can be supportive and help with the child’s rehabilitation, and it also informs me about those risks in the family which need to be addressed. I am a believer in the efficacy of EBP, and the PACT is produc-ing evidence of a kind we have not had before. If I have a concern, it is that the instrument hasn’t been around long enough for me to know if I am using it as effectively as possible. This tool holds great potential for judges if we will take the time to learn it. More and ongoing training will be required for current and future judges. I believe the PACT will enable us to fully use our professional judgment to increase public safety and focus rehabilitative efforts on each individual youth to help turn his or her life around.

New assessment tool provides valuable data for judicial decision making By Judge Lester Langer, Associate Chief Judge, Miami-Dade Juvenile Division

past two years. A single, directed interviewat intake provides information sufficient tomake a risk classification that triages outlower- from higher-risk youths, identifiesthoseinneedoffurthermentalhealthorsub-stanceabuseevaluation,andprovidesempiri-caldataforinformedanduniformdispositionandplacementrecommendationstothestateattorneys in each judicial circuit. A moredetailed assessment is used for higher-riskyouths todevelopcaseplans thatguideandfollow service and supervision from intakethroughcaseclosure. How has this new tool made a dif-ference in cases involving offenders likeA.D.? Before the PACT, decisions weremadebasedonA.D.’spresentingoffenseofaviolent felonyand thepresenceof apriorrecord. A.D. was disposed to a moderate-risk commitment program followed by sixmonths of conditional release supervision.Arriving at the program with his GED, theresidentialprogramstruggled toprovidead-ditional education for A.D., providing threecollege credits for a psychology course su-pervised by the program’s mental healththerapists—theonlystaffqualifiedtoteachatthislevel.Approximatecoststothetaxpayerfor residentialcommitmentandcommunity-basedaftercarewere$26,277. UsingthePACT,A.D.wasassessedasamoderaterisktoreoffend.Thepresenceof

anumberofprotectivefactorsandpromisinghome structure made A.D. a strong candi-dateforfamily-basedintervention.ByusingFunctional Family Therapy, A.D.’s parentslearnedhowtomanagehisbehaviorandbet-tercoordinatehissupervision,andA.D.wasencouraged to separate from his negativepeer group. Since A.D.’s parents continuedtopayforhislodging,subsistence,education,and other expenses, taxpayer costs to treatthisyouthwerereducedto$4,500. The name, PACT, has two purposes.First,itemphasizestheneedforchangeinayoungperson’slifebysignalingtohimorherthedesireforpositiveachievement.Second,the acronym, PACT, supports a contractualrelationshipbetweentheyouthandthecourt,the community, the juvenile probation of-ficer,andotherpartnersintheyouth'slife. Florida's previous assessment systemwas largely based on presenting offenseand past criminal history (static indicators)with little attention paid to criminogenicrisk factors andneeds (dynamic indicators).Punishments/sanctions were meted out tomatch the crime, but targeted risk-reduc-ing treatment was sometimes not providedbecausethecriminogenicfactorsthatledtheyouth to the crime were not being fully as-sessed or addressed. In violation of what isnow known as the risk principle, probationofficers spent too much time supervising

low-riskyouthswith interestedandinvolvedparents, rather than focusing on high-riskyouths more likely to commit future of-fenses. The criminogenic needs are identifiedby the assessment’s questions which probeall theareasofayouth’s life thathavebeenproven to be predictors of pro- or anti-so-cial behavior: family, relationships, use offree time, attitudes and behaviors, alcoholand drugs, education, employment, mentalhealth,aggression,andskills.Thegoalofthecase plan is to increase the youth’s intrinsicmotivation to replace his or her anti-socialbehavior, personality, cognition and/or asso-ciateswithnon-criminal,alternativebehavior,particularlyinriskysituations. Beginningwiththenationallyrecognizedthird-generation Washington State JuvenileCourt Assessment Instrument (or Back onTrack!), Florida’s DJJ made three importantenhancements: 1)Itfullyautomatedthecriminalhistorydomain,whichaddsefficiencyandincreasesreliability; 2) It incorporated, with the assistanceof Allvest Information Services, the DJJ’sMedical Director, and Dr. Thomas Grisso,creatoroftheMassachusettsYouthScreeningInstrument (MAYSI-2), additional mentalhealthandsubstanceabusequestionstomoreaccurately identify the risk to re-offend, and

also the need for further mental health andsubstanceabuseevaluation;and 3)Itaddedanewautomatedcaseplan-ning module, which not only saves pre-cious time for case workers, it allows theDepartment, for the first time, to focus itslevel of service on “what works” for eachindividualandtotrulytracktheeffectivenessofitseffortstoreduceoffenders’risk. The tool has been validated to predictrisktore-offendinFloridaregardlessofraceandgender,and ithasbeen implemented inastatewidesystemwhichreceivesmorethan100,000 youth referrals each year. The DJJadministersallaspectsofthejuvenilejusticesystem, beginning at intake from first ar-rest and encompassing detention, diversion,probation,residentialcommitment,andafter-care.Countiesshareaportionofthestate-op-erateddetentioncosts,butdonotadministertheirowncentersorprobationprograms. Integrating the PACT into Florida’sJuvenile Justice Information System has re-duced workload and opportunities for errorthroughtheauto-populationofdataintovari-ousformsandreports.Thesystemproducesmanagement reports at various levels thattrack progress, as evidenced by reassess-ments,andproducestatusandprofilereportsby youth, juvenile probation officer, proba-tionunit,orcircuitoffice. MotivationalInterviewing(MI)isakeyelement of the new assessment tool. Intakestaff are trained in the evidence-based MIprocess,whichprovidesthemwiththeskillsto initiate change during the first meetingwiththeyouth.Screeningisnolongerapa-perworkexercise,butanopportunitytobeginrehabilitation. MI has been around sincetheearly1980swhen itwas firstdevelopedfromexperienceinthetreatmentofproblemdrinkers. In recent years, MI has gainedincreasing relevance in juvenile justice astheevidencepiledupthatbehavioralchangemostfrequentlyoccurswhenthemotivationforchangecomesfromwithin—apersonex-ploringandresolvinghisorherownambiva-

lence—rather than from without, e.g., fromsanctions. A probation officer well-versedin MI has some powerful tools with whichto help a young person turn his or her lifearound. Training on the new tool began ona pilot basis in November 2005, withthe Hillsborough and Pinellas JuvenileAssessment Centers (JACs). More than25,000 intake cases come through thesedoors each year, representing almost one-sixth of Florida’s annual delinquency refer-rals.Of these,nearly27%originate in localschools.Prioritizingrecommendationsbasedon risk-to-reoffend in amanner that judges,state attorneys, and school officials couldsupport posed a challenge.Consistent train-ingandon-sitetechnicalassistancepermittedthe generation of 6,000 PACTs for initialstudypurposes. The state’s 1,800 Juvenile ProbationOfficers (JPOs) and private-provider JACstaff recently completedPACT trainingandturned their attention to case plans. TheYouthEmpoweredSuccess(YES)Plan,alsodevelopedbyAssessments.comincollabora-tion with Brad Bogue of J-SAT, ranks theyouth’s criminogenic needs and suggestsvarious treatment methods for addressingthemostpressingriskfactors.Acadreofin-housequalityassurancespecialists,orPACTliaisons, provides support and technical as-sistancetofieldstaff,funnelinguniqueques-tions and problems to the statewide PACTCoordinator. Initial reception to the PACT fromcourtpartnersandlawenforcementhasbeenstrong. Judges are especially pleased withthe amount of new information available tothemfordecisionmaking.Theyfeelempow-ered to make decisions in the best interestof the youth and public safety, since treat-mentstargetedtowardspecificcriminogenicneedsaremostproventoreducerecidivism.State attorneys find that decisions based onthe seriousness of the crime and chronicityof the youth’s criminal history are giving

waytoconsiderationsofneed. Even those whoare uncomfortable withthephilosophy seem in-fluenced by the amountandqualityof statisticalanalysis supporting thechange. While wary ofthe amount of informa-tion available throughthe PACT, public de-fenders are encouragedbythefocusonaddress-ingneeds.Insomeareas,public defenders havestepped up their effortstoensurethatyouthsareinformed of their rights

andthatPACTinformationisusedfordispo-sitionratherthanadjudication. ReceptionamongJPOshasbeenmixedbut positive. Most agree that the PACT is astep in the rightdirection,butare still facedwithhighcaseloadswhichinhibittheirabilityto use their new MI skills as much as theywould like. They value the professionalismthat an increased treatment focus carriesbut are impatient to see more of the newevidence-basedtreatmentprogramsneededtoservetheirhighcaseloads. ThePACTisthecornerstoneoftheDJJ’scomprehensive efforts to incorporate evi-dence-basedpractices andprograms into thejuvenilejusticecontinuum.PACTservesasapre-andpost-test fordelinquencyprograms,which helps JPOs make informed decisionsabout the termination of supervision andprovides uniform data for researchers to de-terminetheaddedvalueoftheseprograms.Inaddition to Motivational Interviewing, state-operated and privately operated community-basedandfacility-basedprogramsarebegin-ningtouseevidence-basedprogramssuchasLifeSkillsTraining,AggressionReplacementTraining, Cannabis Youth Treatment,

I was conducting a PACT with a youth in detention who had been very dis-tant since supervision began about three months ago. As I used my active listening skills, asked non-judgmental open-ended questions, permitted him to tell the story from his own viewpoint, and affirmed his participation in the interview, he relaxed and became eager to tell me about his family history and then his substance abuse history. The interview lasted about an hour, not because it had to, but be-cause the youth wanted to talk for the first time. We really connected! Then, when he got out of detention, he stopped associat-ing with his drug-using friends and got a job. He began to come home by curfew and really started working on his strained relationship with his parents. They asked me what happened and stated that they had their son back. They are now very supportive. He still needs substance abuse therapy and has charges pending in court that landed him in detention, but he seems to be a changed young man.

I am excited about the potential of this instrument and the motivational inter-viewing techniques. It is definitely a move in the right direction.

Charles Anderson,Senior Probation OfficerCircuit 13, Tampa, Fla.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Withmorethan29yearsofexperiencework-ingwithdelinquentyouth,DarrylOlsonhasserved as Assistant Secretary for Probationand Community Corrections in the FloridaDepartmentof Juvenile Justice sincehis ap-pointment in July 2005. For more informa-tion on the PACT, please contact Lee AnnThomasat(850)414-2488.

ThinkingforaChange,BriefStrategicFamilyTherapy,MultidimensionalTreatmentFosterCare, Multisystemic Therapy (MST), andFunctional Family Therapy (FFT). In fact,Miami-DadeCountyisnowtheonlylocationinthecountryknowntoofferMST,FFT,andMultidimensionalTreatmentFosterCare. In addition to PACT’s paperwork ef-ficiencies, Florida’s State Advisory Grouprecommendedfundingtoautomatethestate’sDetention Risk Assessment Instrument thatstaff use to screen youths for secure deten-tion. A newly created Office of ProgramAccountabilityincludesatechnicalassistanceunit that will assist staff in converting toevidence-based programs and practices withfidelityandadherencetoprogrammodels. These plans and resource allocationswere supported by the PACT itself. Thenew automated system provides a wealth ofdata for decision making and marketing ofthe agency’s budget requests. For example,the first six months of PACT data revealedthat 23% of disposed youths experiencedproblems with anger and aggression, 66%were currently using drugs or alcohol, 74%have anti-social friends, 41% have no posi-

tiveadultrelationshipintheirlives,and52%admiretheirantisocialpeers. PACT Implementation Team memberscontinue todesignnewwaysofmaximizingavailabledataandstreamliningcasemanage-menttasks.Futureplansincludeareservationsystem where JPOs can actually book thestatistically indicated service while craftingtheYEStreatmentplan.Asstaffreviewplanswith the youth and family, they envisionviewingeligibilityrequirements,physicallo-cation sites, assessing transportation issuesand potential wait times, and assigning theyouthforprogramintake. Florida’s innovative assessment/casemanagement system is providing a compre-hensive approach to dealing with the crimi-nal sanctions and treatment needs of youthsthroughoutthejuvenilejusticesystem.

ReprintedwithpermissionfromtheNationalCouncilofJuvenileandFamilyCourtJudges,Juvenile and Family Justice Today,Winter2007

TURNING LIVES AROUND

helping achieve positive outcomes and long-term success

by the effective implementation of evidence-based practices

• 4th generation risk assessments/automated case plans

• EBP tools for use with juveniles, adults, and sex offenders

• Web-based software which integrates with your existing MIS

• Data-driven individual narrative and by-query aggregate reports

• Motivational Interviewing training and staff skill building curricula

Please visit www.assessments.com, or

call us, toll free, at 877-277-3778.

Also available now on Assessments.com, in collaboration with MHS, the YLS/CMI and the entire LSI-R family of adult assessment tools.

Assessments.com—Your collaborative partner