i i /l Final Report to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law Grant Number 97-JN-FX-0016 Gary B. Melton, Principal Investigator Narrative of Final Report Appendix A Appendix ]~ Appendix C m Appendix D Final Report to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law Grant Number 97-JN-FX-0016 Gary B. Melton, Principal Investigator Acknowledgments We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the administrators and staff at Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for their support of this project. Specifically, we are indebted to Administrator Shay Bilchik for his vision and commitment to the work of the Consortium, and to our grant managers, Betty Chemers and Charlotte Kerr, for their guidance and patience. Principal Project Personnel Gary B. Melton, PhD, Principal Investigator Institute for Families in Society University of South Carolina Susan P. Limber, PhD, Project Director Institute for Families in Society University of South Carolina David Finkelhor, PhD, Principal Investigator of Project #3 Family Research Laboratory University of New Hampshire Scott Henggeler, PhD, Principal Investigator of Project #1 Family Services Research Center Medical University of South Carolina N. Dickon Reppucci, PhD, Principal Investigator of Project #2 University of Virginia Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law Member and Affiliate Centers & Executive Committee Members Member Centers Institute for Families in Society Center for Children, Families, & the Law University of South Carolina University of Pittsburgh Gary B. Melton, PhD Edward P. Mulvey, PhD Susan P. Limber, PhD, MLS Center for the Study of Children's Issues Center for Children, Families, & the Law Creighton University University of Virginia Catherine Brooks, JD N. Dickon Reppucci, PhD Family Research Laboratory University of New Hampshire David Finkelhor, PhD Community Studies Program University of Hawaii at Manoa Clifford R. O'Donnell, PhD National Maternal and Child Health Resource Center University of Iowa Josephine Gittler, JD Family Services Research Center Medical University of South Carolina Scott W. Henggeler, PhD Center on Children, Families, and the Law University of Nebraska-Lincoln Brian W. Wilcox, PhD Research Center for Children and Youth State University of New York at Buffalo Murray Levine, JD, PhD Center for the Study of Youth Policy University of Pennsylvania Ira M. Schwartz, MSW iii Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law Member and Affiliate Centers & Executive Committee Members (cont.) Affiliate Centers Center on Children and the Law American Bar Association Washington, DC Howard Davidson, JD Public Policy Office American Psychological Association Dan Dodgen, PhD Youth Law Center San Francisco/Washington, DC Mark Soler iv Table of Contents Coordination of the Consortium. 1 Background 1 Purposes of the Consortium's Activities Under the OJJDP Grant 5 Activities and Products 7 Project 1. Application of the MST Model 11 Background . 11 Purpose of the Project 12 Activities and Products 15 Project 2: Research on Juvenile Waiver 19 Background 19 Purpose of the Project 22 Activities and Products 22 Project 3: Research on Juvenile Crime Victims 25 Background . 25 Purpose of the Project 28 Activities and Products 28 References 32 Appendix A: Coordination of Consortium Activities Appendix B: Products Developed for Project 1: Application of the MST Model Appendix C: Products Developed for Project 2: Research on Juvenile Waiver Appendix D: Products Developed for Project 3: Research on Juvenile Crime Victims V Coordination of the Consortium (Lead Center: Institute for Families in Society, USC) Background The Consortium on Children, Families, and the Law was created in 1987 to facilitate collaborative research, education, and consultation on critical issues in child and family policy. The Consortium consists of 11 university-based interdisciplinary member centers and three affiliated organizations. The Consortium has three broad purposes. First, by bringing together some of the most productive and thoughtful scholars in the field, the Consortium offers exceptional opportunities to "push the envelope" in analyzing important constructs and issues in laws focusing on children and families. In the same vein, graduate and professional students in Consortium institutions have the rare chance to learn directly from many of the leaders in the field. To fulfill the first purpose, the Consortium periodically has conducted study groups to synthesize knowledge and concepts for public policy. For example, in 1995 the Consortium analyzed research on treatment programs for abused and neglected children. Recognizing the dearth of research on both treatment of maltreated children (Melton & Flood, 1994) and the effects of the legal context (see Melton, Goodman, Kalichman, Levine, & Koocher, 1995), one of the two lines of research that this group (which included outstanding scholars from outside the Consortium, indeed outside the United States) recommended was to use a "careers" model to examine the natural history of cases of child maltreatment in jurisdictions with diverse legal structures. We are also pursuing support for a multisite treatment study to test the efficacy of the group's principles for optimal treatment--ideas that also have subsequently been integrated into the forthcoming report of a study group convened at the request of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation to design a neighborhood-based strategy for protection of children at highest risk. Following a similar theme in 1991, the Consortium convened a study group to examine the implications of a neighborhood- based, child-centered strategy for child protection. The resulting manuscripts, which soon will be published as a book, played an important role in the work of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect (1993; see also Melton & Barry, 1994). In 1992, the Consortium conducted a study group on the future of the juvenile and family legal system, which provided the foundation for the deliberations of the Committee on Family Relations of the 2020 Vision Project of the Judicial Council of California (Melton, 1993). Generating knowledge for the international community as well as state and federal governments, the Consortium also has sponsored two international study groups on concepts embedded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child: the right to a family environment (see Melton, 1996, and other articles in a special section of American Psychologist; see also the special issue of Law and Policy edited by Murray Levine) and the right to a standard of living adequate for development (Andrews & Kaufman, 1998). Second, the Consortium provides extraordinary opportunities for inter- jurisdictional research to determine the effects of various approaches to child and :2 family law (cf. Melton & Saks, 1985). Such issues typically are primarily matters of state law, but the federal government has the major role in generating the knowledge that the states can use in that regard. The multisite studies necessary to compare the effects of state policies typically are so time-consuming to initiate and expensive to implement, however, that timely comparison of new policies is still a relatively rare endeavor. The Consortium provides a network through which interstate comparisons of programs and policies can be conducted and the impact of diverse contexts (e.g., different organizational structures, political environments, service delivery systems, other resources, and populations) on the implementation of programs examined. The National Juvenile Justice Action Plan (Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1996) provides for promotion of partnerships in research. In determining the impact of laws, policies, and statewide programs, such partnerships are critical, because valid and efficient research implementation requires partners to facilitate entree and manage data collection in multiple jurisdictions (so that the impact of a policy can be compared against other policies, not simply against time). Third, through the affiliated organizations (including two major national professional organizations) and the member centers' own relationships with state and private agencies and the academic community, the Consortium has easy access to networks of policymakers and practitioners. With distinguished applied researchers on the cutting edge of policy and practice and continuing involvement in extensive networks in the juvenile justice system, the Consortium offers exceptional structures for diffusion of knowledge about the state of the art in juvenile and family law, policy, and programs. The Consortium is also adept in using research on use of knowledge in the policy process (see Melton, 1987) to maximize dissemination and application of new findings and analyses. Since the 1980s, the Consortium has sponsored an annual congressional briefing series (see Melton, 1995, for a description of the series and its impact). In the past several years, most of the briefings have focused on the critical problems of youth violence and victimization. For example, in 1998, briefings focused on alternatives to traditional juvenile and family court proceedings and children exposed to crime and violence. 1 In 1996 briefings were conducted on effective approaches to prevention and treatment of youth violence and on policy questions related to juvenile transfer and the jurisdiction