NCJ Number
254350
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 43 Issue: 4 Dated: 2019 Pages: 342-357
Date Published
2019
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined the extent to which being arrested during adolescence was associated with subsequent self-reported offending and court-recorded arrests, and it also examined whether the way in which the justice system processed adolescents was related to the nature of these associations.
Abstract
The sample studied consisted of 532 boys who had been arrested (justice-system-involved) and 99 boys who had never been arrested despite engaging in similar illegal behaviors (no-justice-system-contact). The data analyzed were obtained from official arrest records and youths' self-reported illegal behavior at a baseline interview and a follow-up 6 months later. To reduce group differences at baseline, matching weights were calculated with 24 variables, and these weights were used in all analyses. Results indicated that the groups differed in their rate of change in self-reported offending between the two interviews, as well as in their likelihood of being arrested during the study period. The no-justice-system-contact group self-reported the same amount of offending at baseline and the follow up; whereas, the justice-system-involved youth who received the most lenient disposition (i.e., sanction and dismissal) decreased their self-reported violent and total offending. The justice-system-involved youth who received the most punitive disposition (i.e., adjudication) increased their self-reported violent offending. All justice-system-involved youth were more likely to be arrested during the study period than the no-justice-system-contact youth, even after accounting for self-reported offending. Thus, even though some justice system interventions were associated with less subsequent offending, involvement with the juvenile justice system during adolescence, in and of itself, was a significant risk factor for repeated contact with the system. (publisher abstract modified)