Police Caution of Juvenile Offenders - A Research Note

• NCJ Number: 79252
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1981) Pages: 91-94
• Author(s): J Kraus
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

A comparison of recidivism between male juvenile offenders processed by the Australian courts and those diverted by means of police cautions confirmed previous report that offenders selected for caution are less likely to recidivate.

Abstract

Prosecution is virtually automatic in juvenile jurisdictions in Australia, and the police must have strong motives to caution because it involves considerably more clerical work and report writing. Studies in England and Australia have validated the use of discretionary police diversion through their findings that recidivism among juveniles cautioned by the police was one-third to one-half of that among juveniles processed by the courts. The present study compared a sample of 78 male juveniles 15 years old or younger cautioned by the police between July and October 1975 with a matched group of offenders randomly selected from cases handled by the Children's Court during the same period. Recidivism after a 30-month period was measured in terms of the numbers of juveniles who re-offended, the number of charges preferred, and numbers committed to detention. During the followup period, 32 juveniles under court order re-offended, compared to only 21 of the youths who were cautioned. The recidivists in both groups did not differ in the intensity or seriousness of their recidivism. Moreover, the cautioned juveniles had no treatment whereas the group adjudicated by the court were under probationary supervision. These results uphold the criteria used by police to judge the risk of recidivism and are consistent with evidence that police stereotypes of delinquency correspond closely with empirical findings of criminological research. Greater use of police caution is needed and could be encouraged by reduced paperwork and by lowering the administrative decision to the sergeant level. The article includes 1 table and 10 references.