NCJ Number
72115
Date Published
1977
Length
134 pages
Annotation
Two- and three-way tabulation analysis was applied to a set of working hypotheses concerning characteristics of recidivist and non-recidivist juvenile offenders with varied results.
Abstract
The findings of this study totally supported (with three-way cross-tabulation analysis) the hypothesis that sex is a factor in recidivism (i.e., male juvenile offenders experience a much higher rate of recidivism than their female counterparts, regardless of race). School problems and high residential mobility were also found to be a higher recidivism factor for males, females, whites, and non-whites. Only partially supported were the hypotheses concerning race, broken homes (a recidivism factor only for whites, while non-whites had higher recividism rates when coming from intact homes), and seriousness of offense. Totally unverified were the hypotheses concerning older age (i.e., 15-17 age groups are more likely to recidivate than younger, 6-14 juveniles; the recidivism rate was much higher among the latter, because they had a much longer period in which to commit other juvenile offenses). Also juveniles with lower IQ's did not have a higher incidence of recidivism than average IQ offenders. An appendix gives the survey intake inventory. A bibliography with 44 references is appended.