Criminal activity is seasonal, peaking in the summer and declining through the winter. We provide the first evidence that arrests of children and reported crimes involving children follow a different pattern: peaking during the school year and declining in the summer. We use a regression discontinuity design surrounding the exact start and end…

Sex disparities in the incidence-arrest statistics for juvenile thieves may stem from preconceived stereotypes impacting bystanders' social-cognitive processing of a bicycle theft. After reading vignettes describing a bicycle theft, bystanders' reliance on male-as-juvenile-thief stereotypes enhanced their recall of crime and appearance features…

Adolescent behavior now occurs offline and online. Frequently studied and treated independently, the relationship between offline problem behaviors and online risk taking is not well understood. This study asked whether there are any problematic behaviors predictive of online risk taking by high school students. Using a 2009 dataset of 2,077 high…

This series of briefs draws on the findings of multi-country research based on first-hand migration experiences of 1,634 children and young people moving between Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt1 (available at www.unicef-irc.org/child-migration-hoa). The briefs highlight findings that can inform decision makers when designing child-sensitive…

This study examined the prevalence and correlates of involvement in the criminal justice system among a nationally representative sample of youth with autism. We examined whether youth had been stopped and questioned by police or arrested at 14-15 years old and 21-22 years old. By age 21, approximately 20% of youth with autism had been stopped and…

Runaway behaviors among teenagers have been studied for some 40 years. Still, because runaway and homeless youths have often been confounded, little is known about what really defines a runaway adolescent. This study targets three objectives in a mixed-method design relying on data from official files and interviews: the descriptions of teenagers…

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are substantially over-represented in the juvenile justice system in Australia, and this over-representation is highest in the most serious processes and outcomes--particularly in detention. This bulletin examines the numbers and characteristics of Indigenous young people in the juvenile justice…

Several risk factors, including female sex, racial minority status, and family poverty, have been implicated in adolescents' depression. The present study focused on the role of one specific aspect of adolescents' ecological context, interactions with adults, in depressive symptomology. We examined the relationship between perceived support from…

This study explores the clinical epidemiology of children's exposure to violence as addressed by a program in which mental health clinicians work with law-enforcement agents in 10 U.S. cities. Data were collected on all participants contacted by the Child Development Community Policing Program (N = 7,313 individuals involved in 2,466 community…