Symposia
Criminal Justice / Forensics
Kaitlin Sheerin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Rumford, Rhode Island
Alyssa Viera, PhD
Research Assistant
Bradley-Hasbro Children's Research Center
Providence, Rhode Island
Shannon Williamson-Butler, PhD
Research Assistant
Bradley-Hasbro Children's Research
Providence, Rhode Island
Kathleen Kemp, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Research)
Brown University Medical School
Providence, Rhode Island
Background. Approximately 750,000 youth enter the juvenile justice system each year (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2021). It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of these youths have behavioral health concerns above and beyond conduct problems (e.g., trauma, suicidal ideation, substance use; Abram et al., 2003). Therefore, there has been great focus placed on developing efficacious treatments for these youths over the past several decades. The present study conducted a systematic scoping review seeking to appraise published randomized clinical trials for youth in the juvenile justice system between the years of 2000 and 2020.
Method. Several prominent databases (e.g., Medline, PsychInfo) were searched for randomized clinical trials for behavioral health concerns among justice-involved youth between the years of 2000 and 2020. Search terms included terminology pertaining to psychological treatment, justice-involved populations, and different behavioral health concerns. Then, three independent screeners conducted abstract screenings and full text reviews through Covidence software (Cohen’s Kappa = .94). Finally, full-text articles that were ultimately screened into the study were extracted for data regarding focus of treatment, type of treatment, and primary and secondary outcomes.
Results. 5,734 initial articles were identified and ultimately 3606 articles remained after deduplication. After initial title and abstract screening, 333 articles were fully screened and ultimately 38 studies from 33 randomized clinical trials were identified (averaging 1.65 per year). The most common foci of these randomized clinical trials were as follows: conduct problems (58%). Other common foci were substance use and HIV risk reduction. Only two studies explicitly studied co-occurring concerns.
Implications. The present systematic scoping study found that less than two randomized clinical trials per year were published on, with most of these trials focused on conduct problems as well as only single behavioral health concerns (e.g., just conduct problems). These results indicate that there is an overall dearth of randomized clinical trials for justice-involved youth residing in the community. Future randomized clinical trials should focus on concerns beyond conduct problems as well as youth with multiple co-occurring concerns.