Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among justice-involved youth, yet the role of neurological injury in shaping suicide risk remains understudied. Head injuries are disproportionately prevalent among justice-involved youth and have been linked to elevated suicidality, but little research has examined how head injury operates alongside psychosocial risk and protective factors. Using longitudinal data from the Pathways to Desistance study, the current study explores how head injury, risk factors, and protective factors are associated with suicidal attempts and evaluates multiple resilience frameworks. Using logistic regression models, results indicate that youths with a history of a head injury had significantly greater odds of reporting a suicide attempt, even after accounting for psychosocial risks. Psychiatric distress and mental health service utilization were also associated with increased risk. Among protective factors, self-reliance was associated with lower suicide risk overall, whereas future outlook was more protective among youth with a prior head injury. These preliminary findings underscore the value of incorporating neurocognitive considerations into suicide prevention efforts within juvenile justice settings.
Adolescent gun carrying is a critical U.S. public health issue, yet little is known about how multiple violence exposures contribute to this risk. Guided by the Cumulative Risk and Protective Model, this study examined the direct effects of seven violence and threat exposures on gun carrying, alongside the promotive and protective roles of parental monitoring. Using a nationally representative sample from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, complementary log-log regression models were employed, controlling for adverse childhood experiences, mental health, and demographics factors. Of the 20,103 adolescent examined, 4% reported gun carrying the past year. Results indicated that school threats, physical fights, neighborhood violence, sexual abuse, and racial discrimination significantly increased the odds of gun carrying. Conversely, school bullying was associated with reduced odds of gun carrying, whereas cyberbullying showed no significant association with gun carrying. Parental monitoring emerged as a strong promotive factor, reducing the odds of gun carrying by 38%; however, it did not buffer the risks posed by violence exposures. The findings of this study suggest that while parental monitoring is a vital protective asset, it may be insufficient to mitigate the influence of multiple violence exposures, necessitating multi-level strategies across school, community, and family contexts.
The present study examined the interrelations of psychopathy cognitive ability, achievement, and school engagement variables to recidivism in a diverse sample of 417 justice-involved youth court referred for assessment and/or treatment services. The Psychopathy Checklist Youth: Version (PCL: YV) and a set of criminogenic, education, and developmental variables were rated from file; recidivism data were obtained from criminal records. PCL: YV total and most facet scores were inversely related to verbal IQ, unrelated to academic achievement, and strongly associated with school disengagement; however, interpersonal facet scores showed the opposite pattern among male youth. Cox regression survival analyses demonstrated that composite variables reflecting global achievement and school engagement concerns incrementally predicted recidivism outcomes controlling for PCL: YV scores; higher achievement and school engagement appeared to mitigate risk. By contrast, while global cognitive ability similarly mitigated risk among male youth, it was associated with increased recidivism among female youth after controlling for baseline psychopathy. The results underscore the risk, need, and responsivity (RNR) relevance of cognitive ability, achievement, and school engagement in reducing risk for future crime and violence.
The current study examined whether adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were associated with justice involvement among Black adolescents, and whether internal developmental assets (i.e., positive values, social competencies, positive identity, and commitment to learning) and external developmental assets (i.e., support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time) moderated these relations. Gender differences were also examined. Participants included 237 Black adolescents 12 to 17 years of age ( M = 14.46, SD = 1.64). Results indicated that ACEs were not directly associated with justice involvement, however, significant differences were found based on gender and developmental assets. Developmental assets moderated this relation for boys and girls, but the type of moderation differed by gender. ACEs predicted greater justice involvement for boys with low external developmental assets, but not for boys with high external developmental assets. However, for girls, ACEs predicted greater justice involvement for girls with low internal developmental assets, but not for girls with high internal developmental assets. Findings highlight the importance of using strengths-based approaches to understand factors underlying justice involvement among Black youth.
Studies informing gender-responsive programming in the juvenile justice system reveal high levels of mental health problems amongst girls; however, relatively neglected has been attention to thought disturbances. A major impediment in this regard is that the Thought Disturbance subscale of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-2 (MAYSI-2), the most widely used screening measure for mental health problems amongst detained youth, was not deemed reliable for use with girls in the original validation studies. Given the pervasive use of the MAYSI-2 and the importance of identifying thought disturbance amongst girls, a more robust evaluation is needed. An evaluation of the measurement properties, including confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory, and measurement invariance models, was conducted in a sample of 5615 detained youth. Findings suggested that the Thought Disturbance subscale may be suitable for mental health screening with girls.
The goal of the study was to determine whether there is a relationship between duration of each form of maltreatment experienced and delinquency type, trauma, and frequency of offending. Data were collected from 136 incarcerated youth in a Midwestern state. Binary logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between duration of each form of maltreatment and sexual and non-sexual offending outcome. Linear regression explored the relationships between duration of each form of maltreatment, trauma symptoms, and total delinquency. Results revealed that for a 1-year increase in duration of sexual abuse, youth had greater odds of disclosing a sexual offense (B = 1.486, p = .002). Youths with longer durations of sexual abuse reported more severe trauma symptoms (B = 2.07, p = .049); longer durations of physical abuse were associated with frequency of delinquency (B = 0.03, p = .05). Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.
There has been considerable interest in understanding the causes, behavioral patterns, and consequences associated with career criminals. Much of the early research on career criminals was atheoretical, but with the advancement of life-course and developmental research more and more research on career criminals was guided by theoretical explanations. Even so, there remains much that is unknown about whether criminological theories are useful in explaining career criminals. The current study partially addressed this gap in the literature by examining whether concepts drawn from Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) theory and Moffitt's (1993) taxonomy were able to explain age of criminal onset and the duration of the criminal career and whether career criminal measures were associated with the odds of being convicted and incarcerated when accounting for measures from these criminological theories. Arrestees drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) were analyzed. The results of some of the models revealed that low self-control and neuropsychological functioning were related to age of criminal onset, but not the duration of the criminal career. Moreover, measures of self-control, neuropsychological functioning, and age of criminal onset were unrelated to the odds of being convicted and incarcerated.
A growing body of criminological research centers on the "future self," examining how young people link their present behavior to who they would like to become. Within juvenile justice, evidence suggests that the more clearly youth can imagine their futures, the more likely they are to make thoughtful, goal-directed choices that reduce delinquency. However, little is known about how justice-involved youth envision their future selves. This study draws on narrative stories written by 277 youth in a short-term juvenile detention facility in the southwestern United States, collected through the social learning platform Journey.do. Leveraging the lens of narrative criminology, an inductive thematic analysis identified four main recurring theme categories from youth responses: (1) Values That Guide Career Choices; (2) Personal Improvement Goals; (3) Family Participation; and (4) Educational Goals. The findings indicate that youth in detention hold optimistic future aspirations in several spheres of life that the system should utilize to promote desistance and positive outcomes. Areas for future research and policy, such as elevating youths' voices and redesigning system opportunities to support their idealized and individualized future selves, are discussed.
Positive relationships with detention staff characterized by comfort are associated with prosocial outcomes for youth experiencing detention. However, little is known about the specific institutional conditions that foster this kind of comfort. This study examined whether two institutional factors, perceptions of rule fairness and safety in detention, are associated with youths' comfort communicating with staff. In addition, we investigated whether feeling cared for by staff mediated these associations. Survey data from 429 youth released from two juvenile detention facilities in the southwestern U.S. indicated that youth who perceived rules as fair and the detention environment as safe were more comfortable speaking with staff. Feeling cared for by staff was a significant mediator. These findings highlight perceptions of rule fairness, safety, and care as critical relational signals that can promote communication between youth and detention staff, offering actionable targets for staff practices aimed at fostering supportive relationships between youth and staff in detention settings.
Although General Strain Theory (GST) has been widely used to explain delinquent behavior, few studies have examined whether the sources and effects of strain differ across developmental stages. Drawing on GST, this study investigates developmental differences in how various stressors influence delinquent behavior using two waves of nationally representative panel data from South Korea. Regression and decomposition analyses compare adolescence and early adulthood to assess changes in strain exposure and effects. Results show that adolescents experience significantly higher levels of stress and delinquency than in early adulthood. Parental, financial, and appearance stress significantly predict delinquency during adolescence but lose their effects later, with only peer stress remaining significant in early adulthood. Anger and low self-esteem consistently predict delinquency across both stages, suggesting that emotional vulnerability persists over time. Decomposition results indicate that most developmental declines in delinquency stem from changes in the effects of strain rather than reductions in strain exposure. These findings highlight that the types and impacts of strain evolve with age.
Probation is the most frequent disposition of juvenile delinquency cases and high rates of youth struggle to fulfill probation requirements. Parental involvement may play a significant role in shaping experiences on probation. Attorneys' perspectives on the role of parental involvement and how training experiences inform their consideration of parent factors in disposition planning are essential to examine. Defense attorneys (N = 151) with past-year experience representing at least one juvenile client completed an online survey after reviewing a hypothetical probation case plan vignette for a youth client. Participants viewed a vignette with or without information about the youth's parent. Attorneys strongly endorsed the importance of parental involvement in youth probation and recognized that many factors can impact involvement. Hours of training did not predict attitudes towards parental involvement, and such attitudes did not predict how attorneys handled the case plan. Access to parent-related information did inform perceptions of the plan's appropriateness. Findings suggest trainings should focus on how attorneys can apply understanding of parental involvement to direct advocacy. Policy and practice reforms must promote supportive parental involvement in probation on a structural level.
The crime desistance literature highlights employment as a pivotal turning point away from an offender's lifestyle. While extensive research has explored employment outcomes for adults exiting criminal justice supervision and pursuing reintegration, the economic reintegration of emerging adults under juvenile justice community supervision remains under-studied. Centering the lived experiences of emerging adults (ages 18-21) under juvenile justice community supervision, this longitudinal study investigated the direct and indirect effects of prosocial relationships on employment of this social group. Drawing on three waves of longitudinal data, a mediation analysis was conducted using a bootstrapping technique. Findings revealed that prosocial relationships predicted subsequent growth in social skills and life aspirations among justice-involved young adults (JIYAs), which, in turn, enhanced the likelihood of future employment. Moreover, the relationship between prosocial connections and employment was fully mediated by social skills and life aspirations. These results underscore the critical role of prosocial networks in supporting JIYAs' reintegration, financial independence, and successful transition into adulthood.
The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), widely used to assess risk and protective factors among justice-involved youth, demonstrates predictive validity with regard to recidivism. At the individual level, the dynamic Individual/Clinical Risk Factor of the SAVRY has previously demonstrated consistent form across gender and race among Mississippi justice-involved youth. Little is known about the factor structure of the Individual/Clinical Risk Factor at the agency level. This study explored a two-level, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Individual/Clinical Risk measure across 72 Mississippi judicial jurisdictions over a six-year period (2016–2021) involving n = 2,124 delinquent youth. Probit regression analysis examined the relationship of the CFA factor results to within-level and between-level covariates. Findings support the existence of a single factor of Individual/Clinical Risk across the vast majority (88%) of court jurisdictions. The results support the continued use of the SAVRY as an evidence-based measure of risk.
According to the minority threat perspective, racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system can be linked to the size of the minority population in the larger surrounding community. In the juvenile justice system, it is suggested that a larger minority population will be associated with greater punitive treatment, especially of minority defendants. While minority threat has received considerable attention in prior research, much of this work has focused on racial threat (i.e., Black/White). Few juvenile justice studies have tested the ethnic threat hypothesis, and no study has examined the influence of immigrant threat on juvenile court outcomes. To address this gap, the present study examines whether ethnic and immigrant threat at the county level are associated with more punitive juvenile court outcomes, and whether ethnic and immigrant threat amplify ethnic disparities in those outcomes. Findings offered limited support for the study hypotheses. First, ethnic and immigrant threat were both positively and significantly associated with odds of detention, but negatively associated with petition, and had no association with adjudication and disposition outcomes. Second, ethnic and immigrant threat did not moderate ethnic differences in juvenile court outcomes. The implications of the findings for theory, research, and policy are discussed.
This study investigates the potential causal relationship between the assignment of financial restitution penalties to juvenile offenders and subsequent recidivism, defined as being sentenced for a new offense within the next two years. Although the use of financial penalties on juveniles is prevalent, there is limited research on its potential link to reoffending. Using a dataset of all juvenile offenders in the state of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2017 (n = 15,382), we implement a propensity-score matching model to estimate the effects of restitution assignment on future recidivism and test for endogeneity between the two using a control function model. Controlling for offender demographics, criminal history, and offense type and severity, we estimate that restitution assignment increases recidivism rates by 26-percentage points (p < 0.001) and do not find statistical evidence of endogeneity. Higher rates of recidivism are found for those assigned restitution across all offense grades, categories, and dispositions.
Forensic interventions aim to mitigate risk, yet research on change measured through repeated risk assessment is scarce, particularly regarding protective factors. This study examined changes in risk and protective factors during intervention and the impact of change on violent recidivism. Trajectories of 175 male justice involved youth with a history of violence were modeled using multilevel mixture modelling. Findings reveal that youths abstaining from violence displayed fewer risk factors and more protective factors at discharge. Assessments at discharge predicted recidivism. Change scores on several SAVRY/SAPROF-YV subscales over time demonstrated incremental predictive validity above and beyond assessments at discharge, emphasizing the necessity of personalized interventions and considering individual change alongside one’s overall risk level to inform more effective interventions. These insights advocate for balanced approaches informed by repeated assessments encompassing both risk and protective factors.
Research has long demonstrated that adolescents with sexual problem behaviors (PSB-A) have variations in developmental antecedents and types of sexually problematic behaviors. The knowledge of adult and adolescent between-group variation has contributed to further complexities in classifying within-group differences in adolescents with typological research being at the forefront of this conversation. Despite some research using existing data sources to create typological distinctions via Latent Class Analysis (LCA), etiological research has not been prospectively integrated consistently or comprehensively when constructing and validating domains that then generate typological distinctions via LCA. The current study partnered with a midwestern specialized court docket to conduct an exploratory formative evaluation in developing and preliminarily validating a PSB-A typology tool that was then used to generate broad typological classifications of PSB-A. This work is an initial exploration study that will be expanded to a larger validation project using larger samples and prospective data collection procedures with the hope of offering court and clinical utility to aid in individualizing treatment and supervision of PSB-A.
Impact of crime (IOC) interventions are delivered to justice-involved populations to increase sensitivity to and awareness of the harm experienced by crime victims. Such programs are common, but empirical evaluations have been rare. This study addressed that gap by evaluating an IOC intervention used with residential youth in Florida. The study focused on two questions. First, did IOC participants experience improvement on key outcomes? Second, was improvement affected by key individual qualities of youth? Pre- and post-intervention survey data were collected for 419 IOC participants on five outcomes: Sensitivity to victim impact, willingness to take responsibility, antisocial thinking, readiness to make life changes, and factual awareness of victim impact. The analysis revealed that all five outcomes were marked by significant pre-to-post improvements. There was individual variation, with some youth showing substantial improvement and others showing modest improvement or iatrogenic effects. This pattern included modest evidence of greater improvement among those with extensive prior offending and lower improvement among Black youth. We conclude by describing the implications of these findings for the policy and practice of juvenile correctional treatment.
Research has shown that focusing on patterns across concurrent mental health problems may increase accuracy and treatment efficacy, potentially reducing further justice system involvement. This is critical given that over one-third of girls and two-thirds of boys exhibit significant mental health problems fifteen years after release from detention. The purpose of this study was to identify mental health risk profiles of justice-involved youth. Secondarily, the differentiating impact of trauma and race on those groups was examined. Latent profile analysis was used to identify mental health risk profiles among boys ( n = 3550) and girls ( n = 1212) involved in the juvenile justice system. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the impact of trauma exposure and race on class membership. A 4-class model was determined to have the best fit for both boys and girls. Logistic regression showed that levels of trauma significantly differed across classes. In addition, some racial differences were noted for both boy and girl classification profiles. Results of this study demonstrate that there are patterns of underlying mental health concerns among youth in the juvenile justice system. Moreover, these patterns are associated with traumatic experiences, further demonstrating trauma exposure may be a gateway to other psychosocial challenges.
