Identifying chronic juvenile offenders

With the recent rise in juvenile offending, particularly violent crime, legislative and public attention has focused sharply on juvenile corrections. In the past few years, juvenile justice has witnessed stronger legislative dictates requiring public agencies to consider the public safety implications of their policy decisions, an increasing emphasis on outcomes-based evaluation, and a renewed interest in matching services to juvenile's needs. Consequently risk classification, and specifically the identification of chronic juvenile offenders, have assumed a much higher policy profile. Here we review the historical development of risk classification in the context of a rational decision-making model. We discuss the major risk factors identified in the literature and describe in detail a study to identify and respond to chronic juvenile offenders in Orange County, California. Recognizing the advantages of the researcher/practitioner team approach adopted there, we attempt to replicate both the process and the results in Philadelphia. Using a unique juvenile justice database we test but reject the Orange County model; instead we develop a classification model of chronic offending that better fits this juvenile population. Using the Philadelphia model, we demonstrate the policy potential of risk classification by examining the impact of program type and of neighborhood on chronic offending.     

DO DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS CAUSE WELL‐ADJUSTED CHILDREN TO BECOME ADOLESCENT DELINQUENTS? A STUDY OF MALE JUVENILE SERIOUS OFFENDING,INDIVIDUAL RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS,AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT*

This paper presents a study of the relationship between type of neighborhood socioeconomic context, individual characteristics (individuals are classified by a set of selected key measures of individual dispositions and social situation) and serious male juvenile offending (prevalence and early and late onsets) in the city of Pittsburgh. The analytical strategy may best be described as holistic and epidemiological. The key research question is whether onset and prevalence of juvenile serious offending is invariant by neighborhood socioeconomic context when controlling for individual sets of risk and protective characteristics. The results do not support the notion that neighborhood socioeconomic context has any greater direct impact on the early onset of serious offending. However, neighborhood socioeconomic context appears to have a direct impact on the late onset of offending for those juveniles who score high on protective factors, or who have a balanced mix of risk and protective factors. No support was found for the notion that individual risk characteristics and neighborhood risk are additive. Children and adolescents with high scores on risk characteristics offend in serious crime at a similar high rate regardless of the socioeconomic context of their neighborhood.     

Exploring Sex Differences among Sentenced Juvenile Offenders in Australia

Recent research applying latent class analysis (LCA) reveals considerable diversity in the self‐reported offending patterns of incarcerated females and suggests that a failure to recognize these patterns will hinder the ability to understand mechanisms that lead females to serious offending. Using data from a cohort of serious juvenile offenders in Queensland, Australia, this paper extends the earlier research by using LCA to assess sex differences in juvenile criminal offending. Results indicate that female offenders are not a homogenous group with respect to their offending patterns, that there is a degree of symmetry between male and female offenders, and that childhood experiences of maltreatment increase the likelihood of membership in the most serious offending group for both males and females. Implications for theory and policy as well as directions for future research are highlighted.     

Predicting successful outcomes for serious and chronic juveniles in residential placement

In the past decade, juvenile justice agencies have become more reliant on objective risk scales based on an actuarial approach to assessing risk. Risk assessment scales are used as decision-making guides at multiple points in the juvenile justice system. However, little research has focused on assessment of more serious offenders facing removal from the community. Enormous benefits can be derived, both in public safety and cost savings, from successful interventions with these offenders. Identifying offenders most amenable to intervention and at lowest risk for offending upon leaving placement represents a significant challenge. In this study, a placement risk screen was developed that assesses amenability to treatment in a residential treatment program and later risk for adult criminality. The relationship between suspected risk factors, success in a residential treatment program, and adult offending was assessed in a population of 81 male delinquent youths. Many factors are believed to have a bearing on success in treatment and later offending behavior, but only a small number of these were statistically significant. The results suggest that success in residential placement can reduce future offending, but that youth should first be screened for amenability to the program so scarce resources can be conserved. The proposed placement risk screen can assist juvenile court judges, officers, and residential treatment staff in identifying youth most suitable for treatment and who represent a lower risk to the community.     

ESTIMATING A DOSE‐RESPONSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LENGTH OF STAY AND FUTURE RECIDIVISM IN SERIOUS JUVENILE OFFENDERS*

The effect of sanctions on subsequent criminal activity is of central theoretical importance in criminology. A key question for juvenile justice policy is the degree to which serious juvenile offenders respond to sanctions and/or treatment administered by the juvenile court. The policy question germane to this debate is finding the level of confinement within the juvenile justice system that maximizes the public safety and therapeutic benefits of institutional confinement. Unfortunately, research on this issue has been limited with regard to serious juvenile offenders. We use longitudinal data from a large sample of serious juvenile offenders from two large cities to 1) estimate a causal treatment effect of institutional placement, as opposed to probation, on future rate of rearrest and 2) investigate the existence of a marginal effect (i.e., benefit) for longer length of stay once the institutional placement decision had been made. We accomplish the latter by determining a dose‐response relationship between the length of stay and future rates of rearrest and self‐reported offending. The results suggest that an overall null effect of placement exists on future rates of rearrest or self‐reported offending for serious juvenile offenders. We also find that, for the group placed out of the community, it is apparent that little or no marginal benefit exists for longer lengths of stay. Theoretical, empirical, and policy issues are outlined.     

SIBLING RESEMBLANCE IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL YOUTH SURVEY*

Analyses based on individual- and family-level self-report data indicate that (1) delinquency incidents are disproportionately concentrated among households with adolescents, (2) families do not specialize in delinquency by producing certain types of offenders, and (3) adolescent levels of delinquency are predicted equally as well by the offending of an older sibling. the offending of a younger sibling, or by the average level of offending among all other adolescents in the household. Three sets of family characteristics (socioeconomic status, composition, and functioning) are used in multivariate analyses to examine the association among sibling delinquency levels. while sibling composition and family functioning are significant predictors of adolescent delinquency, only family functioning accounts for a small proportion of sibling resemblance in offending. These analyses add to the growing body of research that suggests that sibling similarity in delinquency requires additional consideration in theoretical and empirical investigations of juvenile offending.     

Perceived parental care and supervision: relations with cognitive representations of future offending in a sample of young offenders

This article focuses on the relations of two dimensions of perceived child-rearing practices, care and protection, as measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument and on cognitive representations of future offending in a sample of 152 young offenders. The relations of two different models, predictive of juvenile delinquency, are explored. Parental influences are thought to represent distal factors affecting juvenile delinquency, whereas cognitive representations, formulating the decisions of young offenders, are proximally related with juvenile delinquency. The focus of the research is the young offenders'intentions to reoffend, and it was found that intentions to reoffend in the future were predicted by attitudes toward offending and perceived behavioural control of future offending, whereas parental variables were redundant in predicting behavioural intentions of reoffending. Any effects of parental variables on behavioural intentions were mediated by the young offenders' attitudes toward offending.     

Personal,background and treatment characteristics associated with offending after residential treatment: A 13-year follow up in adolescent males

Abstract

We report on delinquency for 270 males after residential treatment in a juvenile justice institution in the Netherlands. We describe personality characteristics, relations with peers, school and family, as well as treatment characteristics. Next, we describe post-release offending based on reconviction data, and relate this to background characteristics, differentiating between serious and violent offending. In doing so, we distinguish between incidental offenders, chronic offenders and desisters.     

Homicide and serious sexual offences committed by children and young people: Findings from the literature and a serious case review

This article is based on the findings from a Part 8 Case Review (Serious Case Review) conducted by The Bridge Child Care Development Service, and the subsequent overview report entitled ‘Childhood Lost: A Part 8 Case Review Overview Report DM’ (2001). The review concerns the case of a young male aged 18 (DM) who was convicted for the rape and murder of a child aged 11 (WN). The article highlights the key themes that have emerged from the case review. These include the complex issue of predicting and managing risk; effective inter-agency collaboration in reducing the risk of serious sexual and violent offending in young people; and the provision of specialist residential treatment facilities for serious juvenile sexual offenders. The key issues are located within the broader context of contemporary literature and research. It is established that children and young people who commit homicide and other very serious offences are highly likely to have experienced multiple and severe traumatic events during childhood. In addition without appropriate intervention, children with persistent risk characteristics have a high likelihood of committing further acts of aggression and violence. The review into the case of DM recommends that there should be a national strategy for the management and treatment of serious juvenile sexual offenders, and other young offenders at significant risk of serious and violent offending.     

Heterogeneity in the association between social-emotional adjustment profiles and deviant behavior among male and female serious juvenile offenders

This article examines the relation among gender, social-emotional adjustment, and deviant behavior among serious juvenile offenders. A sample of 105 adolescent offenders completed questionnaires assessing social-emotional characteristics and self-reported involvement in deviant behaviors. Results indicate significant associations between distress and restraint in predicting deviance, a finding that was invariant across gender. Analysis of four distinct social-emotional profiles found that membership in the reactive group was associated with the greatest amount of deviant behavior. Results also indicate that not only do serious offending girls internalize more than serious offending boys, they appear equally likely to externalize. However, although boys exhibit less distress than girls, those boys who report high rates of deviance may exhibit internalizing and externalizing problems similar to girls. The use of social-emotional measures in general, and distinct profiles in particular, may aid in targeting specific programming and treatment in an effort to provide offenders with more effective interventions.     

A Criminal Career Study of the Continuity and Discontinuity of Sex Offending during the Adolescence-Adulthood Transition: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Incarcerated Youth

Longitudinal research has seriously challenged assumptions that juvenile sex offenders (JSO) are characterized by high level of dangerousness, mental health problems, and crime specialization in sex offenses. The current study examines the longitudinal pattern of offending among a sample of JSO and a sample of juvenile nonsex offenders. The research design includes longitudinal data over a nine-year period allowing the examination of offending patterns and the crime mix from age 12 to age 23. The findings highlight that, while JSO are prone to persist offending in adulthood, there is limited continuity of sex offending. Further, the findings stress the importance of taking into account nonsexual juvenile delinquency, more specifically, youth violence, to make a better assessment of early adult offending outcomes of JSO.     

Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program: Reducing Minority Youth Incarceration Placements in Cleveland,Ohio

Detaining and incarcerating juvenile delinquents is ineffective and costly juvenile justice policy. These placements, indicative of the “tough on crime” approach, become problematic for many of these youths who do not have the advantage of legal counsel because they waive this right. In addition, a majority of these youths have a mental health or special education disability that does not get addressed in correctional facilities. Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program (AFY) in Cleveland, Ohio (Cuyahoga County) is addressing these issues using a holistic approach that includes the provision of civil legal representation to assist youths in accessing disability services and defense attorney support in dispositional planning to reduce juvenile offender placements. This article reports the results of an experimental design pilot study evaluation of AFY that randomly referred and evaluated 82 felony‐offending youths over 21 months. This initial review of the AFY program found it reduced detention center placement days by 47% and decreased state facility incarceration days by 74% (total cost savings $625,898). With 3,000 youths detained in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Detention Center and 1,800 incarcerated in Ohio state facilities annually, policy implications and recommendations are set forth.     

SPECIALIZATION IN JUVENILE COURT CAREERS

The study of specialization in offending careers is relevant to the key theoretical issue of whether different types of offending reject only one underlying theoretical construct (such as delinquent tendency) or several different constructs. This research improves on previous studies of specialization in offending careers in three ways: (1) It is based on the complete juvenile court careers of a very large sample of offenders (nearly 70,000). (2) It uses a fine-grained classification of 21 offense types. (3) It uses a new measure of the strength of specialization, the Forward Specialization Coefficient (FSC). Both transition matrices and offending careers are studied.
The major findings from the transition matrices are (1) there was a small but significant degree of specialization in offending superimposed on a great deal of versatility: (2) the degree of specialization tended to increase with successive referrals, and this was not due to more versatile offenders dropping out: and (3) the relative extent to which offenders specialized in different offenses held for two jurisdictions (Maricopa County, Arizona, and Utah), both sexes, and all ages.
The analyses of offending careers showed that the most specialized offenses were runaway, burglary, motor vehicle theft, liquor violations, incorrigibility, curfew, truancy, and drugs. Nearly 20 percent of the offenders were identified as specialists. The conclusion is that, while offending was versatile to a first approximation, delinquency theories should attempt to explain specialization and specialists in order to yield more accurate quantitative predictions about offending careers.     

Victims of sexual assault perpetrated by female youth: an exploratory study of gender differences*

ABSTRACT

This study examines sexual offending behaviour of juvenile females and juvenile males who come to the attention of the police. Using victim age as an analytical tool and more than 20 years of incident-level crime data, perpetrator, victim, and offense characteristics are compared to assess if the offending behaviours of juvenile females and juvenile males differ when the victim is a child versus a peer. The multinomial logistic regression showed there were differences in offending between juvenile females and juvenile males dependent on type of victim. Perpetrator substance abuse, victim sex, victim-offender relationship, type of sexual assault, use of force, location of the sexual assault, the time of day of the sexual assault, and whether or not the incident resulted in an arrest all reliably predicted these differences. The results reinforce the field's call for a greater development of a gendered understanding of sexual offending behaviour.     

Self-Control and Social Bonds: A Combined Control Perspective on Juvenile Offending

With longitudinal data from a sample of 359 adolescent offenders, we tested three measures of social bonding (conventional moral belief, attachment, and commitment/involvement) and deviant peer association as outcomes of low self-control and as mediators of the effect of low self-control on juvenile offending. Low self-control was negatively related to each bonding measure, positively related to deviant peer association, and positively related to offending at follow-up. Its effect on offending was fully mediated by conventional moral belief and attachment. These results provide modest support for a combination of self-control and social bonding perspectives on juvenile offending.     

Explaining crime for a young adult population: An application of general strain theory

Most research informed by general strain theory (GST) concentrated on the young, particularly adolescents. Using data from the National Youth Survey (NYS) Wave 7, in which respondents were asked about their offending when they were ages twenty to twenty-nine, a model of young adult offending was estimated that incorporated variables reflecting strain, as well as control variables related to differential association and control theories and a lagged measure of offending to account for unmeasured dispositional factors. Results revealed that indicators of strain had significant effects on property and violent offending. In analyses of the role of depression, selected forms of strain were related to depression, and depression affected offending for males but not females. Taken as a whole, these findings demonstrated that GST, which was advanced as a general theory of crime, made an important contribution to the understanding of criminal offending among young adults.     

Death as a result of asthma in Wayne County Medical Examiner cases, 1975-1987

All deaths ascribed to asthma in the 5-to-40-year age group at the Wayne County Medical Examiners' Office were reviewed from 1975 to 1987 inclusive. Fifty-eight deaths were attributed solely to asthma, and the annual number increased fivefold in the 1980s to a rate of approximately 0.5 per 100,000 per year when extrapolated to the Wayne County population. Blacks were overrepresented to double their proportion in the general population. Almost all cases were known asthmatics, and many had received previous emergency care. Most fatalities occurred at night and did not demonstrate any seasonal variation. The onset of the fatal attack was apparently very rapid in most cases, with many engaged in routine activities and few surviving any length of time in hospital or having sought treatment earlier. Our data reveal a significant increase in sudden death in previously well asthmatics in Wayne County in the 1980s. Similar increases in deaths as a result of asthma have been noted previously in other countries for reasons that remain unclear.     

The impact of disrupted caregiving for juvenile sexual offenders

ABSTRACT

Research that attempts to understand why young people commit sex crimes points to an array of family factors that may uniquely contribute to sexual offending over general juvenile delinquency. This study examines the potentially moderating role of disrupted caregiving in the relationship between offending and caregiver-child relationship quality. Two distinct moderators were tested: gender of caregiver and biological relationship between caregiver and child. Results indicate that juvenile sexual offenders have particularly poor relationships with their primary caregivers compared to incarcerated non-sexual offenders and community controls. Furthermore, sexual offenders with male caregivers were found to have lower relationship quality scores than sexual offenders with female caregivers. In contrast, sexual offenders raised by non-biological caregivers reported better relationship quality than did offenders raised by their biological parents. These findings suggest opportunities for early intervention, before caregiving is disrupted.     

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYMENT ON LONGITUDINAL TRAJECTORIES OF OFFENDING: A FOLLOW‐UP OF HIGH‐RISK YOUTH FROM 18 TO 32 YEARS OF AGE*

This article analyzes the effects of employment on delinquent development from 18 to 32 years of age in 270 high‐risk males. Prior to 18 years of age, all men had undergone residential treatment for serious problem behavior in a juvenile justice institution in the Netherlands. We use semiparametric group‐based models to investigate the effect of employment on their offending, taking into account static personality and background characteristics. We examine the effect of being employed and further distinguish the effects of job quality (“on the payroll” or being employed through temporary work agencies) and job stability (duration). We find that employment is significantly related to delinquent development among most (active) offender groups. Among high‐frequency chronic offenders, only temporary employment is significantly associated with a reduction in offending, whereas among high‐frequency desisters, the association is significantly stronger with regular employment. Stability in employment was limited in our sample, and it did not have an additional effect on offending.