Description

This book focuses on the pioneer of such intervention, California's widely acclaimed Community Treatment Project (CTP). During its 12-year operation CTP essentially instituted and legitimized community-based programming as a viable option for both national and international corrections. It also developed and field-tested many of the strategies and techniques for working with serious delinquents that are now common such as staff/youth matching and group homes. As did CTP itself, the book draws from an underlying, developmental view of adolescence and its challenges. In reflecting such a perspective, and in light of society's fundamental need for long-term protection, the book presents an ethical/pragmatic rationale for setting goals that highlight personal-emotional growth and new types or levels of social skills. In remaining centered on the goal of long-term public protection, the individualized intervention can both accomodate and guide the recent interest in restorative justice.