Is Multisystemic Therapy Effective for Hispanic Youth? An Evaluation of Outcomes for Juvenile Offenders in Los Angeles County

Criminal justice agencies are increasingly seeking to use evidence-based practices to reduce delinquent and antisocial behaviors among youth in the juvenile justice system. One of the more prominent programs is Multisystemic Therapy (MST), an intensive familyand community-based treatment program for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders 12 to 17 years of age. MST targets specific factors in each youth’s environment (family, peers, school, neighborhood) that are contributing to antisocial behavior. MST interventions are pragmatic and goal-oriented: MST aims to give parents and other caregivers the skills and resources needed to deal with their youth’s behavior problems and aims to empower youth to cope with family, peer, school, and neighborhood issues. MST is typically provided in home, school, or other community location, and the MST therapist uses a youth’s family, peer, school, neighborhood, and support networks to facilitate positive changes in behavior. Several studies have found that MST programs are effective in reducing delinquent behaviors among youth in the juvenile justice system. However, most evaluations of MST have been based on small sample sizes. Further, previous evaluations of MST have included very few Hispanic youth. This is an important gap: Hispanic youth are disproportionally involved in the juvenile justice system compared with white youth and have generally not fared well in traditional psychological treatment. To address these gaps, RAND Corporation researchers recently led an evaluation of MST in Los Angeles County’s juvenile justice system. The study used a large sample size, comparing outcomes for 757 juvenile probationers in Los Angeles County who participated in MST from 2003 to 2010 with outcomes for 380 juvenile probationers who were eligible for but did not receive MST services. To improve the study’s statistical power, the researchers pooled eight years of data on MST and comparison-group youth. The study also included a large proportion of Hispanic youth (77 percent of MST participants and 69 percent of the comparison group). Treatment and comparison-group youth were well matched on a variety of demographic and criminal history variables.