FIRST OFFENDER IN JUVENILE COURT - A STUDY OF THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY CHILDREN'S COURT CENTER

• NCJ Number: 19389
• Author(s): W E BERG
• Date Published: 1973
• Length: 155 pages
• Grant Number(s): 72-10-01-05
• Sponsoring Agency: Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice
• Corporate Author: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Sale Source: National Technical Information Service; National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS STUDY TESTED THE ASSUMPTION THAT FIRST OFFENDERS DIFFER FROM RECIDIVISTS IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND, TREATMENT WITHIN THE COURT SYSTEM, AND RELATIVE IMPACT OF THESE TREATMENTS ON SUBSEQUENT DELINQUENT BEHAVIORS.

Abstract

A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 357 CASES (155 FIRST OFFENDERS AND 202 MULTIPLE OR REPEAT OFFENDERS) REFERRED TO THE COURT CENTER BETWEEN MAY AND OCTOBER 1972 WERE ANALYZED AND FOLLOWED UP ON A MONTHLY BASIS. STUDY DATA INDICATED DISTINCT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRST OFFENDERS AND REPEATERS IN TERMS OF THEIR SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND BUT NOT IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE TYPE OF OFFENSE COMMITTED OR THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THESE OFFENSES. IN ADDITION, CASES INVOLVING FIRST OFFENDERS WERE SHOWN TO MORE LIKELY BE CLOSED AT INTAKE THAN THOSE INVOLVING REPEATERS. HOWEVER, AMONG THE CASES THAT ARE CLOSED, THE FIRST OFFENDER WAS LESS LIKELY TO BE REFERRED TO COMMUNITY AGENCIES FOR SERVICES OR TREATMENT. STUDY FINDINGS ALSO INDICATED THAT THE RECIDIVISM RATE FOR OFFENDERS REFERRED FOR COMMUNITY AGENCY TREATMENT OR PLACEMENT WERE SUBSTANTIALLY BELOW THAT OF THE RECIDIVISTS AS A WHOLE. RECOMMENDATIONS ARE MADE FOR IMPROVING THE OPERATION OF THE COURT CENTER IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: CASE RECORDS, SPECIALIZED INTAKE, INTERAGENCY RELATIONS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES, AND TREATMENT MODELS AND CONTEXTS.