Research has shown that focusing on patterns across concurrent mental health problems may increase accuracy and treatment efficacy, potentially reducing further justice system involvement. This is critical given that over one-third of girls and two-thirds of boys exhibit significant mental health problems fifteen years after release from detention. The purpose of this study was to identify mental health

Prior research on race/ethnicity and juvenile court processing have found that youth of color often receive disadvantaged outcomes compared to their White counterparts, and that community context may condition this relationship. The current study examined this association between race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic) and type of drug offense (possession vs. distribution) with adjudication and disposition

BackgroundYouth involved with the justice system are more vulnerable to trauma exposure and engaging in violent behavior. Trauma exposure is linked to increases in youth violence, however, the pathway from trauma to violence, including neurocognitive and neuropsychological mechanisms, is not well understood. The current study sought to test the influence of hostile attribution bias (HAB) and working

Despite efforts to incorporate protective factors or ‘strengths’ in applied risk assessments for criminal reoffending, there has been limited progress towards a consensus regarding what is meant by such terms, what effects predictors can exert, or how to describe such effects. This proof of concept study was undertaken to address those issues. A structured professional judgment tool was used to create

As compared to adult populations, there is a significant dearth of studies examining official misconduct among juveniles, leaving important gaps in our knowledge. Utilizing a sample of youth completing juvenile justice residential placement in Florida across four fiscal years ( n = 5739), the current study seeks to examine the joint effects of facility environment and individual characteristics on

Research has demonstrated that exposure to traumatic experiences in childhood and adolescence can result in adverse outcomes, including mental health concerns, school troubles, delinquency, and juvenile justice system involvement. The current study draws on a framework informed by feminist pathways and trauma theories to revisit the effect of traumatic experiences on recidivism two years following

Prior research has established the relationship between temperament and recidivism, yet the mechanisms that underlie this relationship have yet to be explored. School engagement represents one possible mechanism and has been shown to be related to both recidivism and temperament. The current study expands research on DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament theory by utilizing data from the Florida Department

The gap in the literature this study sought to fill was whether a reduction in parental support or an increase in peer deviance during early adolescence explains the left or ascending side of the age-crime curve. Employing the control and social learning components of interactional theory as a guide and assessing longitudinal data provided by 845 early adolescent youth (406 boys, 439 girls) followed

Prosecutors play an integral role in implementing sentencing reform measures in the United States. Following the Supreme Court’s recent restrictions of the use of life without parole sentences for ...

The Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument (MAYSI-2) is one of the most widely utilized screening measures for detecting mental health concerns among youth entering juvenile detention settings. P...

Juvenile justice-involved youth, despite their history of poor academic performance, have high educational aspirations for their post-release life. However, few expect to meet their educational asp...

Although a growing body of research has documented the characteristics and experiences of young people with child welfare and juvenile justice system contact (i.e., dual system involvement), less i...

A plenitude of research on juvenile recidivism exists within the criminological literature, and some scholars have suggested using the Latino paradox and racial invariance thesis to make sense of r...

Although community sanctions have become a popular alternative to custodial sanctions in youth justice, primary questions about the recidivism effects of community sanctions remain unanswered. The ...

An abundance of research has established Adverse Childhood Experiences’ (ACEs’) contributions to deviant behavior. Recently, studies have demonstrated the importance of Positive Childhood Experienc...

Growing up in a household without two parents present is an established risk factor for youth delinquency. However, much of the research on family structure and delinquency derives from U.S. sample...

Self-control and resiliency in juveniles are each thought to be relevant to the onset of delinquency and recidivism, and both are related to family environments and other childhood experiences. The...

Social support is important for the average incarcerated person, although variation exists. The amount of support received and whether improvements in support are made over confinement can vary acr...

Being adjudicated for a sex offense carries significant social, legal, and penal implications that are almost unparalleled and adolescents are no exception to this differential treatment by the jus...

Siennick, S. E. and Pupo, J. A. (2022). Exploring Variation in the Strength of Association of a Validated Recidivism Risk Score with Seven Common Measures of Juvenile Recidivism: A Research Note. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/15412040221115056

Trauma exposure is pervasive among juvenile justice involved youth. A growing appreciation for the prevalence of trauma and the challenges it poses to successful treatment has prompted youth servin...

This work uses social learning theory’s perspective on continuation and cessation of offending to explore the how rewards and punishments for violence change across the stages of gang membership. Q...

The purpose of this study was to compare the predictive strength of a previously validated risk score across seven different operationalizations of juvenile recidivism. Drawing on data from the Flo...

Although research on the dark figure of delinquency has produced valuable quantitative estimates of its size, prior research is mechanistic and atheoretical about the conceptual underpinnings of th...

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system (JJS) have high rates of trauma relative to youth in the general population. Criminological research has posited that callous traits are some of the mo...

Research on strengths and violent behavior in justice-involved youth suggests that the prevalence and predictive validity of strength factors vary as a function of gender. Interviews conducted betw...

The code of the street and low self-control are prominent theories of crime. However, there is no research that examines if these criminogenic dispositions inform each other over time. We utilize the G.R.E.A.T. data to analyze the development of street code adherence and low selfcontrol longitudinally. We find a portion of the stability associated with street code adherence and low self-control to

The present study investigates whether self-reported psychopathic traits moderate the relationships between delinquent career features (i.e., age of first detention in a juvenile detention center, ...

Current knowledge about the characteristics of adolescents involved in recidivist adolescent to parent violence offending remains limited. This study employed more than 50,000 linked administrative police (from birth) and health (from age five) data events to examine predictors of adolescent to parent violence recidivism in a geographically-distinct case series of 775 Australian adolescents. The predictive

Social determinants of health influence who ends up in the juvenile legal system and how individuals fare when entering and leaving the system. The present study utilized latent profile analysis to determine the extent to which social determinants of health were present in a sample of incarcerated youth and the patterns in which they appear. The authors then examined their relationships to racial groups

Researchers have made great strides in identifying risk factors associated with the commission of sexual harm by youth. However, many of the risk factors associated with youth who sexually harm (YSH) are also associated with nonsexual delinquency, making it hard to create typologies of YSH to target prevention and treatment. To eliminate an overlap with nonsexually offending general delinquents, Brown

Thousands of children ages 12 and under are referred to juvenile justice systems each year, and little is known about how their experiences may differ from those of older youth. The purpose of this study was to compare risk factors associated with juvenile justice referral between children and adolescents and examine differences in adjudication and disposition of referred children and adolescents.

The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships between observer-rated skills related to emotional and cognitive regulation post-admission and pre-release in a secure facility and official records of juvenile felony recidivism up to 1 year after release. Data came from a sample of 599 youth in a residential facility in Washington state (84% male; 38% White). Latent change score models

Juvenile risk and needs assessments (JRNAs) have been the focus of extensive research in the academic literature. Prior studies have primarily focused on the risk-recidivism relationship and establishing predictive validity with juvenile populations. Less investigated is the use of risk and need assessment in practice, including how such tools are used to inform decision-making. This study uses record

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system have enhanced traumatic exposure including abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction compared to their non-involved counterparts. While prior research has conceptualized the role of trauma in predicting juvenile recidivism, the interrelated role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and race/ethnicity in informing juvenile court processing and outcomes

The current study castssome of the first light into the initial impacts of the largest global health crisis in a generation on family and domestic violence, the long-term repercussions of which may take decades to unpack. Statewide trends in juvenile arrests for domestic violence (DV)-related offending are examined, taking into account school closures for in-person learning in March 2020 and the subsequent

The present study investigated whether race moderates the effect of age on juvenile court dispositions in ways that illuminate a subtler form of racial disparities than has been previously identified. Drawing on prior theory and research, we hypothesize that at young ages, virtually all youth are perceived as children and met with treatment-oriented responses. As youth grow older, however, we anticipate

The United States Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama highlighted the importance of an individual’s “incorrigibility” and the prospect of “irreparable corruption” when weighing possible life sentencing for juveniles convicted of homicide. In this review, we study research in multiple content areas spanning homicide recidivism, life-course-persistent or career criminality, and psychopathology

Research on the role of risk perception as a mechanism linking personality traits and behavioral outcomes is limited. The current study assessed a developmental model of the influence of psychopathic traits (PPTs) on the between- and within-individual variation in perceptions of risk and aggressive offending. Multivariate latent growth curve models were used to estimate the role of risk perceptions

The relationship between psychopathy and negative behavioral, social, and health outcomes has lead to calls to identify factors that promote change in features of psychopathy. Given that maturation has important implications for changes in personality more broadly, it also may be informative of changes in specific personality traits associated with psychopathy. Rocque’s integrated maturation theory

While prior studies of juvenile court outcomes have examined the impact of legal representation on out-of-home placement versus community sanctions, previous research has not fully explored the variation within sanctions that youth receive. The current study examines the influence of type of legal representation (public defender or private attorney) when predicting juvenile adjudications and dispositions

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have long been recognized for negatively influencing individual outcomes such that each additional ACE exposure increases the risk for negative health and behavioral outcomes. Little is known, however, about how the more recent accumulation of ACEs occurring in follow-up periods influence global functioning considering the past accumulation of ACEs reported at baseline

Since their seminal work, Andrews and Bonta outlined the Central Eight assessment domains. As the landscape and utility of criminal justice assessments extended, tool developers expanded upon their initial development principles searching to further risk prediction gains. However, often overlooked in recent advancements is the foundation and usage of associated needs assessments. As a critical component

The goal of this study was to identify distinct and meaningful profiles of the seven criminogenic risk and need domains included on the Ohio Youth Assessment System—Disposition Tool (OYAS-DIS). This goal was accomplished by conducting a latent profile analysis (LPA) on a sample of 4,383 formally processed justice-involved youth assessed by the OYAS-DIS. The LPA determined there were six distinct profiles:

Drawing on Feld’s (1991) “justice by geography” thesis, we examined whether juvenile court outcomes and case-level influences on those outcomes varied across urban and rural courts. Using a sample of 60,068 juvenile referrals across 66 counties in one state, we estimated direct effects of urbanism on detention, petition, adjudication, and judicial placement, as well as cross-level interactions between

Research indicates that individuals with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are more likely to offend, and that some ACEs, such as offending and child maltreatment, are transmitted from one generation to the next. However, the extent to which ACEs are transferred across generations and its subsequent impact on offending has not been examined. Using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Best practices in juvenile justice call for the individualized matching of services to assessed dynamic risk factors, with services delivered at sufficient dosage. However, prior work has largely ignored whether this recipe for recidivism reduction is as effective for adolescents with extensive traumatic exposure as it is for those without. The current study leverages a statewide sample of 1,666 juveniles

Psychopathy and trauma exposure are robustly associated with youth conduct problems, but the interrelation of these constructs is unclear. The objective of the present study is to examine psychopathy mediation effects related to trauma events and trauma reactions and juvenile delinquency, conduct disorder, crime seriousness, and proactive overt aggression outcomes. The sample consisted of N =388 (M

The consequences of incarceration for juveniles are vast and well-documented. There is some evidence, though, that youth can experience positive transformations, including improvements in dynamic risk during confinement. What we do not yet know is who is the most likely to make such transformations. Using a sample of 7,269 youth housed in residential placement facilities in Florida, this paper examines

The maltreatment-offending relationship has been well elucidated. Less examined are protective factors that effectively serve to mitigate offending among ACE-exposed youth. The current study examines whether cumulative positive childhood experiences (PCEs) are themselves associated with a reduction in recidivism among juvenile justice-involved adolescents, and the ability of cumulative PCE to moderate

The present study examines whether racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice declined significantly in a state that has made substantial reform efforts in compliance with the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) mandate. Using a sample of all referrals in Connecticut with final disposition in 2000 (N = 18,458) or 2010 (N = 12,265), the study employed multilevel modeling with cross-level

Various groups have expressed considerable concern about the potential for actuarial risk assessments to exacerbate racial disparities in justice settings. This study examined that potential when using a different approach to risk assessment, structured professional judgment (SPJ), by comparing risk decisions made by evaluators when the examinee’s race was different versus the same as theirs. A large

Racial inequalities pervade U.S. justice systems and are the focus of a growing body of research. However, there are fewer studies on racial disparities in juvenile justice settings, particularly on decisions points at the “deep end” of the system after youth have been adjudicated delinquent. The current study examines racial disparities in length of stay, institutional misconduct, and community program

Research indicates truancy and being bullied (otherwise called bully victimization) are independently linked to violent offending. We examine the associations between truancy, bully victimization, and violent offending in a sample of young people who participated in the Ability School Engagement Program (ASEP) truancy reduction experiment. Pre-intervention, half of the sample reported missing school

Considerable research has examined risk factors for offending, but far less is known on the constellations of co-occurring risk factors, such as adverse childhood experiences and low self-control, and the overall continuity in risk between childhood/adolescence and adulthood. Using data on 735 adults incarcerated in a county jail in Florida, this study examines the latent heterogeneity in risk profiles

Low empathy has been implicated in antisocial, aggressive, and criminal behavior, especially among adolescents. Less understood is the extent to which empathy is amenable to treatment, and whether an improvement in empathy can mitigate the deleterious effects of known risk factors, such as childhood maltreatment. A sample of 11,000 serious juvenile offenders in long-term residential placement is leveraged

Research has demonstrated a relationship between childhood trauma, violence, and justice involvement. As juvenile justice systems have become more attune to the needs of traumatized youth, a number of trauma-informed treatment programs have been developed to mitigate the effects of trauma. Evaluations of trauma-informed treatment demonstrate their effectiveness in reducing trauma-related symptoms.

Youth who are dually involved in both foster care and criminal justice systems represent a small minority of individuals with multi-problem risk profiles. Prior research has found that foster care youth are disproportionately more likely to be chronic offenders in both adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, the nature of this relationship remains theoretically underexplored and empirically underexamined

A growing body of literature has found that exposure to child maltreatment and other forms of family dysfunction, often conceptualized as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), are associated with delinquent and criminal behavior. Recent research has indicated that the effects of ACEs on offending may differ not only by offense type but also by sex and race/ethnicity. However, no study to-date has investigated

When Editor Trulson asked me to guest edit a special issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, I took some time to reflect on how best to position my primary area of interest—developmental criminology—within the scope of the journal’s focus. Some of the more recent work from this paradigm has concentrated on the impact of early traumatic experiences on subsequent offending. Indeed, scholars have