Treatment of Aggressive and Problematic Adjudicated Youth in a Secure Psychiatric Setting

Society struggles to accept that children can have a propensity for serious violence. This chapter provides the reader with a description of the juvenile treatment programme administered by the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center (MJTC), a programme that has successfully integrated the two apparently incompatible concepts of high security and emotionally supportive interventions. It describes the theoretical foundation for the centre, its structure, treatment components and outcomes. When a youth who is poorly bonded to convention is punished, the individual may respond to the deterrent sanction with an increase in aggressive behaviours. The MJTC behavioural assessment system is a programme that provides a sensitive measure of treatment engagement and compliance with behavioural expectations. The MJTC Today–Tomorrow programme is a contingency management programme designed to facilitate the development of basic pro-social bonding skills and engagement in the treatment process.