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Crossroads in juvenile justice: The impact of initial processing decision on youth 5 years after first arrest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2021

Elizabeth Cauffman Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth Cauffman [Opens in a new window] ,
Jordan Beardslee ,
Adam Fine ,
Paul J. Frick  and
Laurence Steinberg
Elizabeth Cauffman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Jordan Beardslee
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Adam Fine
Affiliation:
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Paul J. Frick
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Australia
Laurence Steinberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
*
Author for Correspondence: Elizabeth Cauffman, Department of Psychological Science, 4308 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA; E-mail: cauffman@uci.edu.
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Abstract

The current study advances past research by studying the impact of juvenile justice decision making with a geographically and ethnically diverse sample (N = 1,216) of adolescent boys (ages 13–17 years) for the 5 years following their first arrest. Importantly, all youth in the study were arrested for an eligible offense of moderate severity (e.g., assault, theft) to evaluate whether the initial decision to formally (i.e., sentenced before a judge) or informally (i.e., diverted to community service) process the youth led to differences in outcomes. The current study also advanced past research by using a statistical approach that controlled for a host of potential preexisting vulnerabilities that could influence both the processing decision and the youth's outcomes. Our findings indicated that youth who were formally processed during adolescence were more likely to be re-arrested, more likely to be incarcerated, engaged in more violence, reported a greater affiliation with delinquent peers, reported lower school enrollment, were less likely to graduate high school within 5 years, reported less ability to suppress aggression, and had lower perceptions of opportunities than informally processed youth. Importantly, these findings were not moderated by the age of the youth at his first arrest or his race and ethnicity. These results have important implications for juvenile justice policy by indicating that formally processing youth not only is costly, but it can reduce public safety and reduce the adolescent's later potential contributions to society.

Keywords

adolescencediversioninverse probability weightingjuvenile justice policyprocessing decisionrecidivismrisk-takingsocial policy
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 33 , Special Issue 2: Honoring the Legacy of Ed Zigler's Lifetime Contributions to Science, Society, and Child Wellbeing , May 2021 , pp. 700 - 713
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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