NCJ Number
217229
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 125-129
Date Published
January 2007
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study compared the family characteristics of 106 adolescents housed in a reformatory in Eastern Turkey with the family backgrounds of 126 adolescents in Turkey who had no convictions; both samples were of similar socioeconomic status.
Abstract
The study concluded that the sociocultural condition of an adolescent's family was the most important factor in determining whether or not he/she developed delinquent behaviors. Twenty-six percent of the convicted adolescents were from families disrupted by a parent's death, a divorce, or other circumstances; the rate of such family disruption was only 11 percent for the unconvicted adolescents. The imprisonment rate among first-degree and second-degree relatives of the convicted group was 58 percent (n=62), and all of these convicted adolescents had met or lived with their convicted relatives. This pattern of family-member criminal convictions was found in only 17 percent of the controls. Other significant family characteristics that distinguished convicted from unconvicted adolescents was the greater number of individuals or siblings living in the family homes of convicted adolescents, the greater prevalence of family migration from hometowns among convicted adolescents, and a greater rate of low educational achievement for the mothers of convicted adolescents. Both samples completed a questionnaire during a face-to-face interview, and official records were reviewed by researchers. The questionnaire solicited information on family disruption, parents' educational level, the number of imprisoned first-degree and second-degree relatives, family migration from its hometown, and the number of siblings. Statistical analysis used SPSS 11.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows. 4 tables, 1 figure, and 17 references