Teaching Adolescents and Adults about Adjudicative Proceedings: A Comparison of Pre- and Post-Teaching Scores on the MacCAT-CA

The current study investigated whether teaching was associated with improved legal understanding among adolescents and adults. Participants included 927 youth and 466 young adults, who completed the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication, the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version, and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. Adolescents aged 13 and younger were less likely than older individuals to improve with teaching. IQ score was positively associated with improvements following teaching, and individuals from ethnic minority groups showed greater improvements following teaching than non-Hispanic Caucasians. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Incapacitation: Revisiting an Old Question with a New Method and New Data

We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to obtain estimates of the number of crimes avoided through incapacitation of individual offenders. Incarcerated individuals are matched to comparable non-incarcerated counterparts using propensity score matching. Propensity scores for incarceration are calculated using a wide variety of time-stable and time-varying confounding variables. We separately analyze juvenile (age 16 or 17) and adult (age 18 or 19) incapacitation effects. Our best estimate is that between 6.2 and 14.1 offenses are prevented per year of juvenile incarceration, and 4.9 to 8.4 offenses are prevented per year of adult incarceration.

Educational tracking and juvenile confidence in the police in China

Juvenile confidence in the police (JCP) has become an important research topic in policing. In spite of an increasing amount of research literature on JCP, the influence of educational tracking especially vocational tracking on juveniles’ confidence in the police has received limited scholarly attention. Extant literature suggests a noticeable difference in family backgrounds, attitudinal perceptions, and problematic behaviours between vocational school students and regular high school students. Using the survey data of 3628 students collected from these 2 distinctive segments of educational tracking in a southwestern Chinese city, this study examines if and how youths in vocational schools perceive the local police differently from their regular high school counterparts. The findings indicate that vocational school students had more confidence in the police than their regular high school peers. In addition, school contexts played a significant role in shaping their respective attitudes toward the police. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018: Updating the Federal Approach to Youth Involved,and At‐Risk of Becoming Involved,in the Juvenile Justice System

On December 21, 2018, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act was signed into law, marking the first update in 16 years to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended. The reforms reflect much of the knowledge that has been gained through research and science over the past decade and strengthen the Act’s core protections for youth in the juvenile justice system. The changes also expand the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s role in research, and technical assistance, and provide for additional oversight for related programs.     

Disparate reports of stress and family relations between youth who commit sexual crimes and their caregivers

Certain family factors, including dynamics, interactions and communication patterns, experiences of intra-familial victimisation, overall functioning and attachment can increase propensities for the commission of a sexual crime and may even be linked to recidivism. However, there is an absence of research that examines factors that contribute to problematic family relationships and how youth and caregivers vary in perceptions of family relationships. The current cross-sectional research study delivered the same validated instruments to youth (n?=?46) and their caregivers (n?=?46) to determine relative perceptions of family relationships and stress. Two multiple regression models were conducted to determine factors that contribute to problematic family relationships. Youth reported greater stress scores and more problems in family relationships relative to caregivers. Stress contributed to family relationship problems for youth and caregivers, but protective factors were associated with less family relationship problems for caregivers. Treatment and research implications are discussed.