Early research that generated risk based assessment lead us to appreciate what the conditions were regarding why certain youth committed crime, and once being able to determine the nature and level of risk, how to allocate resources in their intensity and nature in order effectively target interventions that addressed the cause of crime.

The science of youth criminal conduct has now matured to the point where we can build on this early work and address additional areas that have heretofore not been the subject of rigorous research. This is where Dr. Shema's contribution is so welcomed.

Arguably, what the early research on criminogenic risk overlooked was the relevance of mental health status with certain youth.  Over the past decade, our own work focused on mental health indicators in youth justice that were relevant targets of service (Leschied, 2008; Leschied, 2011).