The Youth Comprehensive Risk Assessment (YCRA) as a Treatment Guidance Tool for Adolescents with Behavioral and Developmental Challenges

Much has been written about the factors that contribute to troubled adolescence. Hawkins, et al. (1992) and Hawkins, et al. (2000) found mounting evidence that adolescents who are most at risk for committing serious and violent crimes tend to display high levels of risk factors such as alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse or addiction, lack of parent-child closeness, family conflict, beliefs and attitudes favorable to criminality, early childhood aggressiveness, antisocial behavior, and poor peer acceptance. Additionally, juvenile delinquency has long been associated with certain societal ills, such as easy access to alcohol and other drugs and family splintering (Hawkins, et al., 2000). Huizinga, et al. (2000) noted serious delinquency with co-occurring AOD abuse and mental health problems. However, common clinical practice is to provide broad-based assessment, with heavy reliance on clinical judgment without a self report component. This is now deemed a major limitation to distinguishing higher and lower risk youth (Huizinga, et al., 2000). It is not uncommon for troubled youth who commit serious and violent crime to find themselves in therapeutic communities (TC) and/or residential treatment facilities (Coll, et al., 2004; LeCroy & Ashford, 1992: Lyons, Kisiel, Dulcan, Cohen, & Chesler, 1997). Indeed, MacKenzie (1999) found that out-of-home placements for delinquent adolescents grew 51% between 1987 and 1996. Not surprisingly, adolescents treated via out-of-home placements were more likely to report higher levels of AOD abuse and more severe behavioral problems than adolescents treated via outpatient programs (Coll et al., 2003). Despite the severity of initial problems, youth in out-of home placements typically reported significantly reduced