This report describes a research study that builds on an existing longitudinal study to further understanding of the trajectories of female justice involvement across adolescence and adulthood.
The study reported here examines the trajectories of female justice involvement across adolescence and adulthood, and focuses on trajectories of trauma exposures and its sequalae, in order to identify salient points for prevention and intervention efforts. This study sought to describe the mental and physical health in a sample of women with extensive juvenile and adult legal system involvement and to further quantify the cumulative biological burden of those experiences by also examining the allostatic load. The four main goals of the research study were: to specify developmental trajectories of delinquency and crime from adolescence into adulthood among a sample of justice-involved females, and to understand how risk and protective factors impact those trajectories over time; to examine the role of key turning points in the persistence or desistence of process for adult females; to examine whether desistance or persistence in delinquency and crime predict biological and self-reported health outcomes; and to examine the long-term effects of the Treatment Foster Care Oregon intervention on adult offending and crime, and biological and self-reported health. The report provides an overview of the project, its design and methodology, and expected applicability; it notes participants and other collaborating organizations, and changes in approach from the original design; and discusses outcomes, including activities and accomplishments, results and findings, and project limitations