The purpose of this volume is to present the whole story of our research program on alternative interventions with delinquent youth. It is our goal to describe the development of an alternative intervention model, to examine its salient processes, to provide a test of its relative effective ness, and to give a description of its systemic impacts. The process described was based on the notion that improvement in our approaches to troubled youth lies in a systematic examination of the efficacy of innovative models. As the reader is probably aware, the history of inter ventions with troubled youth is more a record of failure than success. Thus, the search for alternatives is extremely critical. The book proceeds as a detailed research monograph. The first four chapters describe the historical and theoretical antecedents of the devel opment of the research program. Chapters 5 through 11 describe re search on the efficacy of alternative intervention approaches for delin quent youth, research on the impact on nonprofessional change agents, an attempt to integrate contemporary theoretical propositions about de linquency causation and the effects observed, and research examining the systemic consequences of providing innovative interventions to de linquent youth. The final chapter integrates the findings with contempo rary work and provides suggestions for future work.

The troubled-teen industry, with its scaremongering and claims of miraculous changes in behavior through harsh discipline, has existed in one form or another for decades, despite a dearth of evidence supporting its methods. And the growing number of programs that make up this industry are today finding more customers than ever. Maia Szalavitz's Help at Any Cost is the first in-depth investigation of this industry and its practices, starting with its roots in the cultlike sixties rehabilitation program Synanon and Large Group Awareness Training organizations likeest in the seventies; continuing with Straight, Inc., which received Nancy Reagan's seal of approval in the eighties; and culminating with a look at the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs-the leading force in the industry today-which has begun setting up shop in foreign countries to avoid regulation. Szalavitz uncovers disturbing findings about these programs' methods, including allegation of physical and verbal abuse, and presents us with moving, often horrifying, first-person accounts of kids who made it through-as well as stories of those who didn't survive. The book also contains a thoughtfully compiled guide for parents, which details effective treatment alternatives. Weaving careful reporting with astute analysis, Maia Szalavitz has written an important and timely survey that will change the way we look at rebellious teens-and the people to whom we entrust them. Help at Any Cost is a vital resource with an urgent message that will draw attention to a compelling issue long overlooked.

The book focuses on one of the most problematic areas of Turkish penal justice: the overreliance on custodial measures and a corresponding growth in the prison population, and compares Turkey with two major European countries in this respect: England and Wales and Germany. The underlying question throughout the study is the extent to which prison alternatives can be seen as genuine alternatives to immediate custodial sentences.

Distributed to depository libraries in microfiche.

Criminal Justice / Law Enforcement