Evaluating delinquency policy interventions in Portugal

Abstract

Social program and policies, interventions, and services, should be required to undergo rigorous systematic evaluation to address the policy question of how society should invest in the treatment of juvenile offenders in the institutional care system. Public policy decisions regarding programs for youths should be grounded on research-based knowledge and experience of academia and practitioners, program participants. Despite developments in intervention science, the existing empirical literature is seriously underdeveloped with respect to the issue of delinquency interventions and policies in Portugal. In other words, there is little systematic knowledge on the effects of existing policies in the youth system. In this paper, we address the available research and evidence on juvenile justice institutional interventions. We seek to explore the extent to which these are 1) informed by previous studies and 2) subject to analysis during and following policy termination.