NCJ Number
238297
Date Published
2011
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This technical paper from the Australian Institute of Criminology examines how juvenile recidivism is measured in Australia and used as a means for measuring the performance of juvenile justice agencies.
Abstract
This technical report examines why it is necessary to measure juvenile recidivism, how it is accomplished in Australia, and how it is used to measure the performance of juvenile justice agencies in Australia. The report identifies limitations on the use of recidivism as a measure of performance of juvenile justice agencies. These limitations include the fact that measures of recidivism can be inaccurate or misleading, specific measures of recidivism can be limited, recidivism measures cannot determine the performance of a particular criminal justice intervention, focusing on recidivism renders other outcomes redundant, measures of recidivism assume a steady rate of offending, and rates of recidivism are compared with an unrealistic ideal. The paper next explores several reasons why measuring juvenile recidivism poses unique challenges. These reasons include the fact that juveniles often have different offending profiles than adults, offending peaks during adolescence, and that access to data on adult offenders is required to get a complete picture on juvenile recidivism. The paper also discusses a set of alternatives to recidivism that can be used for measuring the performance of juvenile justice agencies as well as alternative methods for measuring juvenile recidivism. Examples of alternative methods used in other countries are discussed. Finally, the paper examines the use of risk assessment tools to measure the performance of juvenile justice agencies and presents a set of 13 principles that can be used to inform the measurement of juvenile recidivism in Australia. References