Innovative and theoretically informed intervention programmes for children who offend: The Compass Project

This chapter explores the notion that desistance can be achieved with the use of psychological strategies to strengthen morality and associated personal characteristics. The link between weak morality, emotional functioning and regulation and youth antisocial behaviour and crime is well evidenced. What is less understood is the ways in which these traits can be strengthened in adolescence by participation in intervention programmes. The Compass Project addresses this in the form of a Randomised Controlled Trial, piloted with a sample of 11–17-year-olds at a youth work centre in Cambridge, UK. This work provides an empirical test of the ways in which desistance can operate when applied to a spectrum of adolescents, with different (criminal) behaviours, quality of relationships with others and moral attitudes. It takes the perspective that labelling young people and pathologising their offending behaviour is not fruitful in achieving desistance. To begin, this chapter presents findings from a large-scale literature review of empathy, emotion and morality interventions to identify what has and has not been effective in achieving positive behavioural (including desistance) outcomes. Using an applied perspective, the links between morality and current desistance paradigms will be presented and discussed. Aspects of traditional desistance theories, often applied to adult offenders, will be built upon in relation to youth morality, emotional management and regulation and the development of self and social identity. The Compass intervention strategies have the potential to support young people, in various contexts, to achieve desistance by making law-abiding, positive and fulfilling action choices.