Juvenile Cognitive Intervention Program

The Juvenile Cognitive Intervention Program (JCIP) is a core treatment program for the Wisconsin Division of Juvenile Corrections. In a cognitive-behavioral program, individuals examine the effects of their cognitions (thoughts) on their behaviors and modify problem behaviors by changing the thinking that supports those behaviors.

Research Based Programming

Correctional facilities in Wisconsin have a history of utilizing cognitive interventions In October of 1992, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) was awarded a technical assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to develop cognitive programming in it’s institutions and in their field operations. Although the DOC was already employing cognitive concepts in some of its programs, it was believed that technical assistance from NIC would enable the DOC to expand the use of cognitive interventions and to develop uniformity in its approach. Further, it was anticipated that the Cognitive Interventions initiative would fill gaps in existing treatment services. The program developed was named "THINK."

In 1997 staff from the Division of Juvenile Corrections (DJC) was trained in the "THINK" program to replace the cognitive programming being provided to youthful offenders at that time. It was quickly determined that the "THINK" program was too complex for the youth to easily comprehend. Funding was obtained from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to write a youth friendly version of the "THINK" program. Steve Parese, Ed.D. wrote a two-phase program called "Choices and Changes." That program was written at a lower grade level to better meet the needs of our youth. After piloting at Wisconsin’s Division of Juvenile Corrections facilities, the program was edited under the direction of Dr. David Smith and published in the summer of 1999. Dr. Smith has since developed a third phase, "Challenges," for use in the field to deal with relapse issues. "Choices", "Changes" and later "Challenges" have been designed to offer treatment providers a scripted, sequential, youth-friendly, cohesive method of delivering psychologically sound exercises and activities to institutionalized youthful offenders.

From its inception JCIP has been based on research. As the program was developed, components were researched as to their content and effectiveness. The theories of Aaron Beck and Jack Bush are the basis for the cognitive restructuring component. The cognitive/social skills interventions are based on techniques that use the social learning cognitive model as their basis. The problem-solving model is based primarily on Julianna Taymen’s work. Some of the motivation building exercises included the work of Jack Canfield and David Burns. The relapse prevention component is based on the work of Marlatt and Bandura.

Program Components

Cognitive restructuring, cognitive skills training, and relapse prevention approaches are blended into the JCIP curriculum. JCIP is presented in three phases. The phase system used in the program teaches youth to pinpoint the source of their thinking and its related problems before it asks them to learn new skills that can help them solve these problems. The program provides all facilitators with the "Choices", "Changes" and more recently "Challenges" manuals. These comprehensive documents provide details as to facilitating the program in a scripted format. Lessons in the three phases of JCIP use the following format:

Program Evaluation

The purpose of JCIP is to increase the level of personal achievement of high-risk offenders by their participation in and successful completion of rehabilitative programming. Offenders should be able to identify and replace pro-criminal thinking and behaviors with those that are pro-social thereby decreasing rules violations and criminal behaviors exhibited in institution and community settings. Additionally a JCIP goal is to increase high-risk offenders’ impulse control and problem-solving skills in order to reduce the severity of offenses and their re-admission rate to correctional institutions.

Regular testing and behavioral rating forms are used to track the youth’s learned-knowledge of JCIP concepts. Additionally DJC is collecting data to measure program effectiveness by comparing the increase of cognitive knowledge to measured behaviors and recidivism to correctional facilities.

Latessa Evaluation

During the past year JCIP was reviewed by Edward Latessa, Ph.D., from the Center for Criminal Justice Research at the University of Cincinnati. He used the Correctional Program Assessment Inventory, a tool used to rate thousands of correctional programs. JCIP did very well in the assessment. Dr. Latessa remarked, "this program can easily be a model for others to emulate". Dr. Latessa regularly lauds the Division's JCIP when making presentations about juvenile treatment programs throughout the country. Officials from other states have contacted DJC to inquire as to how to establish JCIP as one of their programs. We are proud of the praise Dr. Latessa has given us. DJC is committed to continuous program improvement to meet the needs of our youth. As part of this commitment we have just finished revising the first two phases of the program and will introduce a family component this fall.