FEBRUARY 2026 | 31 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. behaviors. This means adopting an educational and developmental philosophy, teaching missed education, providing positive parenting experiences to repair dysfunctional family experiences, equipping career skills when unemployment has been the rule and, when ill with substance use disorder or mental illness, providing evidence-based treatment. This approach builds on the understanding of almost limitless neuroplasticity in a brain’s capability to learn, change and become culturally virtuous members of society. Habilitation provides the developmental learning missed during childhood and adolescence. In practice, habilitative services include education, vocational training, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mentoring, family- like residential prosocial living and other support services to help the client acquire capabilities and habits not previously developed.4 CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL IMPACT A rehabilitative approach might teach an offender job skills or provide therapy, assuming the client will return to being the law-abiding citizen they once were. This model works well for the once successful adult who acquires alcoholism or other substance abuse, and their lives become unmanageable. A habilitation approach recognizes that many juvenile or young adult offenders failed to develop basic life skills and learn from socially mature peers or adult role models. Habilitation retraces childhood and adolescent learning and prosocial behavior to build a foundation for adult success. Psychologists emphasize that for juvenile and young adult offenders to make lasting change, “habilitation, not rehabilitation, is essential.” Fortunately, the young brains of these offenders have sufficient neuroplasticity to supplant dysfunctional, deeply rooted thinking patterns with ones based on the values of a flourishing life. Habilitating experiences in a diversion program provide the social interactions that induce the neuronal growth in the brain to produce the mental control needed for them to think, feel and act as socially mature adults.5 WHY YOUNG OFFENDERS NEED HABILITATIVE DIVERSION Justice-involved juvenile and young adult men, especially those caught in the “school-to-prison pipeline,” often come from environments that failed to teach them the cultural skills, rules and
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