Crime and Cognition

Abstract

The authors first summarize briefly the results of a recent meta-analysis of community-based interventions for delinquents, pointing to the generally low-order results of such efforts. The characteristics of effective interventions are then noted. The bulk of the paper is a discussion of the theoretical basis, intervention strategy, and dissemination of an innovative and cognitively based community intervention—sociomoral reasoning development. Particular attention is given to consideration of those factors—particularly organizational ones—that facilitate the adoption of such interventions.