A Trial of Multisystemic Therapy in UK a Statutory Therapeutic Intervention for Young Offenders

To evaluate whether Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is more effective in reducing youth offending and out-of-home placement in a large, ethnically diverse, urban U.K. sample than an equally comprehensive management protocol; to determine whether MST leads to broader improvements in youth sociality and in mediators believed to be responsible for change in MST.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age between 13 and 16 years;
• living in the home of and being brought up by a parent or principal caretaker;
• on a court referral order for treatment or a supervision order of at least 3 months' duration, or, following imprisonment, on license in the community for at least 6 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

• being a sex offender;
• presented only with substance misuse;
• diagnosed with a psychotic illness or posed a risk to trial personnel;
• incompatible agency involvement (e.g., ongoing care proceedings).