Intervention provides appropriate therapy to rehabilitate the individual. Society must be protected from offenders. Individuals commit crime of their own free will, must be held responsible, and might pay the penalty set by society under due process. Societal order is maintained through laws that punish wrong doing, achieve retribution through punishment, and deter criminality by threat of punishment. Youth are no exception.
Programs typically stress the prevention of behaviors that lead to re-offending.
Most behaviors and attitudes don't directly lead to successful employment, however, they can be thought of as preparatory. Programs must be offered over months, not weeks, and of sufficient intensity to change entrenched behaviors and attitudes. Programs that employ single aims or strategies do not work. Youth offending has no single cause and the young offender population is far from homogeneous. Successful programs are multi-faceted.