U SING I NCENTIVES TO M OTIVATE Y OUTH IN THE J USTICE S YSTEM CJJ 2016 Conference April 22, 2016 Martha-Elin Blomquist, Ph.D. NJCFCJ, Reno NV Lindsey Lucero 2 nd Judicial District Court, Albuquerque, NM

Session Objectives: Review adolescent development as the context for using incentives to motivate behavior change. Learn about a 3-Prong Approach to motivating youth with incentives: Most Valued Privilege (privilege reduction) Behavior Contracts Program-Wide Incentives Learn about a JDC team case study to implement the 3-Prong Approach Brainstorm ways to apply session tools and concepts to your program. W ELCOME

M OTIVATING Y OUTH B EHAVIOR C HANGE : T HE J UVENILE D RUG C OURT C ONTEXT

T HE 16 S TRATEGIES In 2003, NCJFCJ and the OJJDP created the 16 Strategies to help JDCs incorporate specific practices into the drug court program so as to better meet the developmental needs and challenges of youth participant

R ELATED JDC S TRATEGIES 5. Monitoring and Evaluation: E stablish a system for program monitoring and evaluation to maintain quality of service, assess program impact, and contribute to knowledge in the field. 8. Developmentally Appropriate Services: Ta ilor treatment to the complex and varied needs of youth and their families. 12. Family engagement: Recognize and engage the family as a valued partner in all components of the program. 15.Goal-Oriented Incentives and Sanctions: R espond to compliance and noncompliance with incentives and sanctions that are designed to reinforce or modify the behavior of youth and their families.

E FFECTIVE P RACTICES

K EY F INDINGS Use t herapeutic programs oriented toward facilitating constructive behavior change; they have shown very positive effects—even for serious juvenile offenders (Lipsey, 2009) Utilize contingency management procedures (positive reinforcement, behavior contracts, cognitive behavioral therapy) Administer incentives and sanctions at a ratio of 4 (incentives) :1 (sanction) Engage families Attend court & active involvement Support group method Engage entire family in services if able

A DOLESCENT D EVELOPMENT

T HE A DOLESCENT B RAIN …

A DOLESCENT D EVELOPMENT AND VULNERABILITY TO D ELINQUENCY AND S UBSTANCE U SE Risk taking (experiment – what’s it like?) Sensation seeking (appeal of being “high”) Prior history of trauma (self-medication) Age for onset of some MH/SU for self medication Underdeveloped critical thinking

Here and now thinking Susceptibility to external (peer) pressure Heightened emotionality Lack “brakes”/self-regulation Identify still in formation A DOLESCENT V ULNERABILITY C ONT ’ D

A DOLESCENTS AS G REAT C ANDIDATES FOR S UBSTANCE A BUSE T REATMENT Heightened learning capacity New interests Reward seeking – motivated by the short- term/concrete In process of identity formation - what are the possibilities? Who am I? What do I like? What can I be good at? Who do I like? What do I care about (idealism) Don’t have years of habits and dependencies to unlearn

A D EVELOPMENTAL P ERSPECTIVE ON A CCOUNTABILITY AND F AIRNESS National Academy of Science research indicates that fairness is an important concern for justice-system involved youth. Developmentally, youth are more sensitive to injustices by authority figures than children or adults. (Bonnie et al 2013) What does “fairness” likely mean to adolescents in programs like juvenile drug courts?

M EANING OF F AIRNESS TO Y OUTH Opportunity to express feelings or concerns Neutrality/fact-based quality of decision-making Treated with respect and politeness Authorities act out of benevolent and caring motives (Bonnie et al 2013)

M ORE ABOUT F AIRNESS … When adolescents feel the court system has treated them fairly, they are more likely to accept responsibility for their actions and are more likely to embrace pro-social activities. ( Bonnie et al 2013) Holding youth accountable and punishing youth in a process perceived as unfair can reinforce social disaffection and antisocial behavior. Policies and programs that are predominantly punitive neither foster youth prosocial development nor reduce recidivism.

I NDIVIDUALIZING I NCENTIVES & S ANCTIONS

Q UESTION What incentives do your programs use? How are they administered? (flip chart/tickets)

FairImmediate4-to-1 RatioIndividualizedConsistent Behavior Change

A DOLESCENT D EVELOPMENT AND P OSITIVE R EINFORCEMENT M OTIVATION IS DEVELOPMENTAL Shift adolescents from being motivated by external rewards (things) to being motivated by internal rewards (personal satisfaction, based on sense of self, beliefs and values)

C ONTINGENCY M ANAGEMENT (CM) CM is a treatment- informed response to youth behavior Based on cognitive- behavioral and behavioral therapy principles In which incentives and sanctions, determined by the youth/caregiver and program staff/JDC team, Are consistently applied To reinforce desired behavior The goal of CM is to “weaken the influence of reinforcement derived from using drugs and to substitute it with reinforcement derived from healthier activities and drug abstinence” ( NIDA, 2007, Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research Based Guide, p. 24 ).

CM and the 3-Prong Approach to Individualizing Incentives and Sanctions

THE THREE - PRONG APPROACH Prong One: Individualize privilege reduction to gain compliance over a single behavior, dirty UAs AND individualize incentives for clean UAs – every single time! Prong Two: Individualize youth contracts to reward and motivate positive behavior change in other areas- school attendance, family connectedness, community involvement. Prong Three: Create and administer program-wide incentives to motivate youth and families to engage in the program, to help youth advance through phases, promote a strength-based atmosphere for youth and families, and achieve 4:1 ratio of incentives to sanctions.

T HE T HREE -P RONG A PPROACH Ability to Monitor and Analyze Allows for Concrete Responses Structured Set of Procedures

F EATURES OF THIS A PPROACH Individualized Informed by youth views of fairness Emphasizes youth and family voice, what is meaningful and feasible for youth and family Transparent Developmentally appropriate youth motivation/buy-in ability and achievability (recognizes full and partial efforts; offers step-by-step) contributes to personal growth (goal-oriented) facilitates accountability Data driven Consistent with research on evidence-based practice (therapeutic interventions) and effective use of incentives and sanctions

1 ST P RONG - M OST V ALUED P RIVILEGE (MVP) This is a privilege that the youth values and will work hard to earn. Having this privilege for a clean UA is so valued by the youth that it is in effect a substitute for the benefit/high that a youth would receive from substance use. Work with the youth and family to determine what the MVP is, preferably a family-based reward (i.e., video games, cell phone use, time w/ friends). The MVP is given or taken away with each drug screen.

M AKE IT T RANSPARENT MVP Sally – Use of cell phone Mary – Allowed to use Mom’s car on Friday afternoon Jack – Ride to school, rather than walk

The JDC team/program staff will have to discuss how many times they will “go back to the drawing board” if the MVP selected isn’t working…2, 3 times? Then a graduated sanction is put in place This process gives the team/program staff objective measures to count before a graduated response is put in place (i.e., there were ___ # of times the youth did not earn the MVP) MVP - T HINGS TO C ONSIDER

T HE 2 ND P RONG : Y OUTH C ONTRACTS Components of a Youth Behavior Contract that rewards youth for responsible behavior in other domains (Henggeler et al, p. 131) Specific behavior is targeted (e.g., completing school assignments). A step-by-step process is created for the youth to follow. The youth works toward “things” he or she is interested in. The youth’s family/guardian is engaged in the process. The judge and youth discuss the contract (increased communication between the judge and youth).

C ONTRACTS THAT BUILD A STEP - BY - STEP PROCESS