Social work professor Catherine Lemieux spent four years researching the logistics and effects of therapeutic communities in secure treatment facilities for juveniles.
Lemieux said she followed 226 juvenile nonviolent offenders through therapeutic communities in three confinement facilities in Louisiana. 
Though she could not observe whether the program proved successful, Lemieux said she tracked 82 percent of the 226 juveniles for two years. Of that percentage, only 10 percent returned to custody for a new charge.
“The research consistently shows that the [therapeutic communities] approach is one of the most effective,” Lemieux said. 
Therapeutic communities, or TC, involve groups like substance abuse treatment, which discusses ways to prevent relapse, support and education groups and community groups, which address any living problems among the juveniles.
Lemieux said many of the juveniles have children, so the facility provides parenting education as well.
Facilities initially used TC for adult heroin addicts, but the program became a popular treatment for juveniles in the 1990s. Lemieux said out of the research group, 93 percent of the children smoked marijuana, more than three-fourths drank alcohol on a regular basis and many smoked cigarettes. The average age was 16.
Although effective, Lemieux said TC is not gaining speed as a way to treat juveniles. She said Louisiana stood as the only state to use its grant funding for TC and uniquely used it for both boys and girls.
“This type of program is very expensive to fund, and without support, TC is generally not provided,” she said.
Lemieux said though prevention costs less than trying to fix the problem in the community, politicians usually support getting the offenders off the street and in jail than using preventive tactics.
Social work professor Juan Barthelemy said the outcome of prevention is not as tangible as controlling the existing problem, which occurs more visibly in communities.
“People feel better about spending money and allocating resources to a problem that is most proximal,” Barthelemy said.
He said poor education and violent crimes correlate, and prevention proves to be the best approach to stop juvenile crime. Children start to use drugs at earlier ages than before, and Barthelemy said it is more of a challenge to get the children to stop than to prevent them from using the drugs initially.  
Aftercare treatment is also effective in helping juveniles refrain from returning to their old ways, but Lemieux said right now there is less aftercare treatment than TC. It all boils down to funding, she said.
She said she is not sure whether Louisiana still continues the TC program, but if secure treatment facilities have stopped, inadequate funding is to blame.
As a result of the way the state prioritizes funding, Lemieux said few people get treatment, but juveniles are more likely to get treatment than adults.
Most are victims of poverty, racism, trauma and fewer educational opportunities, and Lemieux said the problems require the investment of the community. She said TC takes care of what the community cannot.
“The children who end up in secure treatment have made mistakes and have broken the law, but they also represent some of the most disadvantaged children in our state,” she said.
‘The research consistently shows that the [therapeutic communities] approach is one of the most effective.’