Aalsma, Matthew C.Schwartz, KatherineTu, Wanzhu2019-11-082019-11-082018Aalsma, M. C., Schwartz, K., & Tu, W. (2018). Improving police officer and justice personnel attitudes and de-escalation skills: A pilot study of Policing the Teen Brain. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 57(7), 415–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2018.1523819https://hdl.handle.net/1805/21302This pilot study assessed whether police officers and juvenile justice personnel reported improved attitudes toward youth and knowledge about de-escalation skills after attending Policing the Teen Brain, a training created to prevent arrests by improving officer-youth interactions. Pre- and post-intervention surveys asked about participant attitudes toward adolescents, adolescence as a stressful stage, and punishing youth in the justice system. Among the 232 participants, paired sample t-tests indicated significant differences between mean pre- and post-survey responses on nearly all survey subscales. A hierarchical regression model significantly predicted improvement in knowledge, with educated, female participants most likely to improve knowledge of de-escalation skills.enPublisher Policyjuvenile offendersviolenceevidence-based practiceArticle