The impact of therapeutic jurisprudence on juvenile recidivism: The country road to rehabilitation

Abstract

This study investigated juvenile recidivism among the statewide population of juvenile drug court graduates from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 in West Virginia. One notable strategy to combat juvenile crime is the therapeutic jurisprudence approach that focuses on intervention by the judiciary to head the rehabilitation of offenders. This study analyzed recidivism data for 3 years following a juvenile drug court participant's completion of the program to determine the effectiveness of the therapeutic jurisprudence approach in West Virginia. Recidivism data were analyzed through chi-square tests of independence, multiple linear regression, and an ANOVA to ascertain the impact of the therapeutic jurisprudence approach. This writer tracked recidivism rates of graduates 3 years following completion of the juvenile drug court program to determine the overall effectiveness of the community-based, judicial treatment approach. The study examined recidivism rates for participants who received evidence-based treatment based on age to highlight if an offender's age at the time of graduation influenced future recidivism. Finally, the study investigated if there was a noteworthy difference in recidivism depending on where the participant participated in juvenile drug court across 19 separate juvenile drug court programs throughout the state.