DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04339.v1
title: Evaluation of the Juvenile Breaking the Cycle Program in Lane County, Oregon, 2000-2002
title: Version 1

description: This study was conducted between April 15, 2000 and
 November 15, 2002 to evaluate the effects of the Juvenile Break the
 Cycle program (JBTC) in Lane County, Oregon on the interim and
 longer-term outcomes for juvenile offenders who were deemed high risk
 and had a history of alcohol and/or other drug use. The study was
 conducted using three waves of interviews as well as administrative
 data. The baseline interview was given to and administrative data were
 collected on 306 juveniles. The 6-month follow-up interview was
 completed by 208 juveniles and the 12-month follow-up interview was
 completed by 183 juveniles. Variables included in the study are
 history of alcohol and/or other drug use, diagnosis of mental health
 problems, history of previous contact with the juvenile justice
 system, substance abuse risk score, total risk score, and history of
 substance abuse treatment or mental health counseling. Variables
 related to JBTC include program assignment, the number of drug test
 administered between interviews, and the number of positive drug
tests.
description: The Juvenile Breaking the Cycle program (JBTC)
 was implemented in 1998 by the Lane County Department of Youth
 Services (DYS). The JBTC model was expected to be an improvement upon
 existing treatment and rehabilitation interventions for drug-involved
 juvenile offenders because juvenile offenders tend to have co-occurring
 psychological and behavioral problems that require multi-faceted
 approaches. In particular, JBTC built upon what had been learned about
 the implementation and effects of programs that attempted to integrate
 substance abuse treatment with other programmatic interventions
 (mental health, family, etc.) and monitoring activities (urine
 analysis, court monitoring, etc.). The purpose of this study was to
 evaluate the effects of the JBTC program on interim and longer-term
 outcomes such as adherence to program requirements, results of urine
testing, school performance, and rearrest for new offenses.
description: The impact of the Juvenile Breaking the Cycle
 program (JBTC) was assessed by evaluating the outcomes of a sample of
 306 juveniles who were risk assessed by the Lane County, Oregon
 Department of Youth Services (DYS) between April 15, 2000, and November
 15, 2001. Of the 306 juveniles recruited into the study, 149, or 49
 percent, were enrolled in JBTC, and 157, or 51 percent, were not
 enrolled in the JBTC program. Juveniles were identified as substance
 involved (alcohol and/or other drug, or AOD) following an encounter
 with police that led to either an arrest or a citation. Following the
 police encounter, a juvenile was either turned over to DYS or cited
 and released. Those sent to DYS were processed by intake personnel,
 who administered a risk assessment. If the assessment identified the
 juvenile as having AOD problems and as high risk, the juvenile was
 assigned to JBTC. Juveniles were considered to be high risk if their
 total risk scores were above ten. However, in some cases intake staff
 would override a risk score below ten and classify a juvenile as high
 risk. Typically, this occurred to ensure a juvenile would receive
 treatment when the juvenile had a high score on the drug component but
 scored relatively low on the other components. Three waves of
 interviews were conducted, and administrative data were collected on a
 baseline sample of 306 juveniles. Parental consent was obtained prior
 to interviews, and the juveniles were also asked to consent to the
 interview. The baseline interview, with 306 respondents, occurred
 within about 1 month of the juvenile receiving risk assessment at
 DYS. The second interview, with 208 respondents, was conducted
 approximately 6 months after the baseline interview. The third
 interview, with 183 respondents, was conducted approximately 6 months
 after the second interview, or 12 months after the baseline
 interview. The baseline interview took about 30 minutes, and the
 follow-up interviews took between 1 and 1.5 hours to complete.
 Respondents were given gift certificates for local shopping malls as
 compensation for their participation. Administrative data, including
 demographic characteristics, risk assessment scores, and additional
 data on criminal history were obtained from DYS. Data describing
 substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling episodes were
 collected from the Oregon Client Process Monitoring System (CPMS).
 These data were used to verify the respondents' history of substance
 abuse treatment and mental health counseling. Data from the Oregon
 Youth Authority's Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS) were used
 to determine the extent to which those participating in the study were
 involved in the juvenile justice system and to verify the respondents'
 history of contact with the juvenile justice system. All measures of
 delinquency reported in this study exclude the instant offense, which
 is the arrest that led to the juvenile being eligible to participate
in the study.
description: These data contain demographic variables on the
 respondent including age, gender, race, where they live (in a house,
 apartment, shelter, etc.), with whom they live, and the primary source
 of their caregiver's income. Further information on the respondent
 includes JBTC program assignment, substance abuse risk score, total
 risk score, and DYS risk assessment status. Respondents were asked
 about their history of alcohol and/or other drug use including
 lifetime use, age at first use, frequency of use in the past 6
 months, and frequency of use in the past 30 days of the following:
 tobacco products, alcohol, marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine,
 amphetamines, inhalants, hallucinogens, heroin,
 barbiturates/tranquilizers, and designer drugs (ecstasy, etc.), and if
 they had ever received any alcohol and/or drug treatment or education.
 Respondents were also asked if they had ever been diagnosed with
 attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
 (ADD/ADHD), bi-polar disorder, anger management issues, post traumatic
 stress disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and if they had ever
 received any in-patient or out-patient mental health treatment. To
 assess their prior contact with the juvenile justice system,
 respondents were asked about their prior arrests, age at first arrest,
 and prior time on probation, in detention, on parole, or in a
 diversion program. Respondents were asked about family history of
 severe drug or alcohol problems, criminal background, contact with
 family members, and relationship with family members. Respondents were
 also asked about their school status (enrollment, grades, days missed,
 etc.), involvement in gang activity, involvement in sexual activity,
 whether they carried a weapon (gun, knife, stick, etc.), and whether
 they had ever been threatened with or threatened someone with a
 weapon. Data collected from DYS include the number of drug tests the
 respondent had taken between the baseline interview and 6-month
 follow-up interview and between the 6-month follow-up interview and
 the 12-month follow up interview, as well as the number of positive
drug tests and the drugs that the respondent tested positive for.
description: none
description: Response Rates: Baseline interviews were completed by 306 of 925
 study-eligible juveniles for a response rate of 33 percent. A total of
 208 6-month follow-up interviews and 183 12-month follow-up interviews
 were completed for subject retention rates of 68 percent and 60
percent, respectively.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: A quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent
 comparison group was used to evaluate the impact of the Juvenile
 Breaking the Cycle program (JBTC). During the baseline recruitment
 period, approximately 925 juveniles were administered risk assessments
 by the Lane County, Oregon Department of Youth Services (DYS). Of
 these, 306 (33 percent) were approached and agreed to participate in
 the JBTC program evaluation study. Those interviewed included 50
 percent (146 of 290) of the juveniles who were in the JBTC and 25
 percent (160 of 635) who were not. The JBTC participants differed from
 the non-JBTC participants on many of the measures that historically
 have been associated with higher rates of recidivism and substance
 abuse. The JBTC participants were assessed as being more likely to be
 higher risk, to have more extensive and more serious criminal
 histories, to report alcohol and/or other drug use (AOD) and to have
 begun at an earlier age, to have been in treatment or a shelter prior
 to assessment, to have family members with criminal records and
 serious alcohol or drug problems, and to report being diagnosed with a
mental health problem more than non-JBTC participants.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Evaluation of the Juvenile Breaking the Cycle Program in Lane County, Oregon, 2000-2002
description: All juvenile offenders in Lane County, Oregon from April
15, 2000 to November 15, 2001. Smallest Geographic Unit: none
description: face-to-face interviewThis data collection provides data for the impact
 evaluation. Data from the process evaluation and cost-effectiveness
evaluation are not included.