I agree with a prior comment that human subjects protections make it very hard to do research in justice settings, but we just have to overcome those obstacles.
I think it is also important to remember that the survey described in this post did not assess jj practices in terms of how many youth they affect. It measured practitioner confidence.
Obviously, sex offender treatment is critical for the youth involved, and our survey results confirmed its importance. Still, it would be unreasonable to place sex offender treatment second on a list of all methods for preventing juvenile crime.
Similarly, substance abuse treatment received strong marks in our survey, but this does not mean it will cure all forms of youth crime. As I showed in a previous post, most youth in the juvenile justice system do not have drug problems and they do not need drug treatment. They need more conventional help, including strong relationships with pro-social peers and adults, educational and vocational support, work experience, and opportunities for civic engagement, physical activity, and self-expression.
Substance abuse treatment is the key component of intervention for some youth (maybe 10%) and an important part of intervention for many youth (up to 50%), but it can never be the primary answer for all youth.