NCJ Number
110037
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 18-22
Date Published
1988
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article traces the history of assessments of the mental ability and academic achievement of male juvenile delinquents and offers new findings on the intellectual abilities of incarcerated wards.
Abstract
The article notes that research findings in the early 20th century identified delinquents as feebleminded. For decades, the author observes, correctional educators viewed juvenile delinquents' intellectual abilities and capacities for achievement as limited at best. During 1980 to 1985, the author, in order to discover the current intellectual growth patterns of juvenile delinquents, carried out a study of 1,300 incarcerated male delinquents in Nevada. An average I.Q. of 90.97 was found for the group. Thus, the average youth was quite capable of comprehending normal lessons. While early studies found no juveniles with I.Q. scores of over 110, the author's study revealed that 24.4 percent of the Nevada sample had I.Q. scores of 110 or better. In addition, the author found that the reading, mathematics, and language levels of the group studied increased while they were incarcerated. The author also found no differences in reading, language, and mathematics skill growth between recidivists and nonrecidivists. The author argues that correctional educators should re-examine programs they have designed for juveniles under their supervision. The author argues that today's juvenile delinquent is probably more intelligent and more capable than has been reported in the past. Therefore, the author suggests, corrections education programs should be designed to respond to the newly discovered intellectual needs of some juveniles. 26 references.