Background: The juvenile justice system's interventions are expected to help reduce recidivism. However, previous studies suggest that official processing in juvenile court fails to reduce adolescents' criminal behavior in the following year. Longer term effects have not yet been investigated with a rigorous method. This study used propensity…

Although research has examined the effectiveness of juvenile transfer on recidivism, there has been a lack of research done in assessing how well juvenile waiver to adult court meets the criteria necessary for deterrence to occur (i.e., certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment). The purpose of this study is to assess how well juvenile…

Research suggests that child maltreatment predicts juvenile violence, but it is uncertain whether the effects of victimization persist into adulthood or differ across gender. Furthermore, we know little about the mechanisms underlying the victim-perpetrator cycle for males and females. Consequently, this study analyzed associations between child…

Any analysis of confidentiality laws begins with a discussion of the interests involved. Children and families involved in the juvenile justice system have important interests in keeping their records confidential, yet, at the same time, when youth under the care or custody of state or local agencies commit violent crimes, or are the victims of…

In "Preventing and Reducing Juvenile Delinquency," Howell proposes a female-specific pathway to serious, violent, and chronic offending. Incorporating ideas from feminist research about risk factors for female delinquency, he proposes five distinct and interrelated risk factors--child abuse victimization, mental health problems, running…

This article traces the historical coverage of the gender issue in the criminological literature. It also provides contemporary empirical evidence about differences and similarities between girls and boys with respect to juvenile crime and to processing by the juvenile justice system, by analyzing several national juvenile crime data series, all…

Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg explore the dramatic changes in the law's conception of young offenders between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. At the dawn of the juvenile court era, they note, most youths were tried and punished as if they were adults. Early juvenile court reformers argued strongly…

This staff brief discusses the juvenile justice system in five states which have enacted specific statutory provisions directed at the violent and chronic juvenile offender. Approaches adopted by California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Washington are described which include: (1) various ways of automatically waiving or transferring youths…

This "Voices of Pioneers" section of the journal highlights the work of Jane Addams, who founded the settlement house movement in America with the establishment of Hull House in Chicago in 1899. Presents excerpts from Addams' book "The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets (1909)" to illustrate her views on guns, stealing,…

Laurie Chassin focuses on the elevated prevalence of substance use disorders among young offenders in the juvenile justice system and on efforts by the justice system to provide treatment for these disorders. She emphasizes the importance of diagnosing and treating these disorders, which are linked both with continued offending and with a broad…

This report fulfills the annual reporting requirements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974 as amended, and describes the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) efforts to carry out the broad mandates of the JJDP Act during fiscal year 1991. The report begins with an explanation of the…

Psychologists and psychiatrists are regularly used during civil commitment and other hearings to prognosticate dangerousness for the courts. In this process, the judiciary has shown almost complete deference to the recommendations of forensic specialists despite a number of early studies that did not support a clinician's ability to predict…

This booklet reports the deliberations of a panel of 37 judges, prosecutors, and researchers who attended a national conference to consider dealing with repeat juvenile offenders. The five conference sessions focus on: (1) Assessing the Problem: Offense and Offender Characteristics; (2) Processing Offenders: An Empirical Review of Current…

This paper presents a broad overview of information about delinquency, crime, and school discipline and violence in relation to U.S. youths. Part 1 compares U.S. and West Germany's crime rates for 1980-1985, while part 2 focuses on U.S. juvenile crime facts and on the contribution of the increasing number of U.S. family breakdowns to juvenile…

This publication contains presentations made at the National Symposium on the Serious Juvenile Offender. The meeting was convened to identify key policies and to assess present attitudes and information regarding youth who commit serious crimes--especially violent crimes. The National Juvenile Justice Act stimulated the development of criteria for…