The challenges of turning developmental theory into meaningful policy and practice

The Youth Justice Service began in 1999 in Queensland. It embodied a new vision for the supervision, rehabilitation and reintegration of young offenders serving community-based orders. Evidence suggests that the Youth Justice Service failed to change significantly the pathways of young offenders. A random sample of 190 clients drawn from the Youth Justice Service and Area Offices that used traditional approaches was analysed to determine the effect of the new service delivery model on recidivism. Llogistic regression models showed that whether clients attended a Youth Justice Service or Area Office was not a predictor of recidivism. This chapter contextualises this failure. More generally, the chapter is about the challenge of translating developmental crime prevention theory into policy and practice, particularly within a government service delivery infrastructure. It highlights a number of fundamental operational factors that can undermine the success of a developmental intervention. The promise of developmental prevention Developmental crime prevention programs have demonstrated many successes and a large literature emphasises the benefits of early-in-life interventions that prevent maladaptive pathways from becoming entrenched. In disrupting the developmental pathway early in the life-course, interventions can prevent the accumulation of disadvantage, as proposed by Sampson and Laub (1997) and Yoshikawa (1994). Three successful developmental interventions that have been targeted at young children and have produced favourable outcomes are the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (Weikart & Schweinhart, 1992), the Montreal Prevention Project (Tremblay,