title: The "experimenting agency". The California Youth Authority Research Division.
abstract: During the 1960s and 1970s, the California Youth Authority embarked on a series of randomized field trials to test interventions for juvenile and young adult offenders. This article examines the institutional and political reasons why rigorous tests were adopted for such interventions as the Community Treatment Program. It also describes the effect these trials had on the agency and on California justice, as well as how the experimental method eventually became less often used in the Youth Authority. The authors explore some general reasons why this happened.
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrosino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000266:history*; D008297:Male; D011057:Politics; D011367:Professional Staff Committees / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011897:Random Allocation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States