What are some of possible concerns associated with the development of intervention programming as presented in the SNAP article? Discuss how these could be addressed.
The SNAP program underwent several updates over the course of its implementation. As such, concerns and challenges are expected when developing intervention programming like SNAP. A concern would be the generalization of such a vast program. For example, SNAP has become a successful program used internationally, with 100 licenses issued in the last ten years (Augimeri, Walsh, Levene, & Slater, 2015, p. 468). With the program being used in multiple countries by various professionals, it might be difficult to ensure the program is being implemented correctly; however, as Augimeri et al. (2015) mention, a manual was developed with clear guidelines to follow in order to ensure quality programming (p. 482). Further, rigorous criteria must be met to implement SNAP, including obtaining proper training and screening for qualified personnel (p. 479). Augimeri et al. (2015) note the program is most successful when “implemented with the highest integrity and fidelity” which they try to ensure through proper training and integrity checks (p. 481). This addresses the issue of quality in implementation. Another concern is addressing the needs of several demographics of children. When developing intervention programming, how can we make sure the program will work with different groups of children with various needs? To address this issue, several versions of SNAP, using the program’s underlying framework, were created to target specific populations of at-risk children. For example, SNAP girls, SNAP for schools, and more were developed to address the needs of a variety of groups (p. 476). A concern with developing intervention programming is ensuring that the techniques and framework are empirically based and will prove to be helpful. As seen in the development of SNAP, the team ensured this by choosing a qualified lineup of professionals who oversaw the evolution of the program (p. 485). The program was monitored and made to adapt to changing contexts, as well as hiring qualified staff, and updating training as the program progressed (p.487). Developing such a program is a massive undertaking and concerns such as the ones discussed are bound to arise. SNAP did an excellent job of adapting and evolving to ensure quality programming.
Beyond the costs associated with the criminal justice system, what other costs do children (and families) with delinquent trajectories incur based on their utilization of additional government resources? How can these costs be reduced from a criminal justice standpoint?
The non-criminal justice system costs associated with delinquent trajectories are mainly from three categories: Health care and social services, remedial education, and social assistance programs (Craig, Schumann, Petrunka, Khan, & Peters, 2015, p. 518). Craig et al. (2015) identified six delinquency trajectories and looked at the costs associated with each. Most youth fell into the lowest delinquency and second lowest delinquency groups. The next two groups were the highest desisters and moderate desisters whose delinquency decreased over time. Escalators were youth whose delinquency increased over time. Finally, the high delinquency group represented only a small percentage of overall youth offenders and were those whose delinquency started out moderate and reached its highest at grades 6 and 9 (p. 532). In each of these groups, the highest associated costs were for remedial education (p. 533). The escalators had high health care costs, which were considered reactionary (p. 535). Both groups of desisters had the highest special education costs (Craig et al., 2015, p. 534). Interestingly, girls in the high delinquency group had higher costs associated with delinquency than boys, especially in the health care category (p. 534). This indicates a need for funding targeting high-risk girls at the prevention stage. Being able to identify the risk factors for delinquency early and subsequently investing education and resources in these children to discourage escalation will help reduce the costs associated with delinquency ( Craig et al, 201
