The Direct and Indirect Associations between Childhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Adolescent Gun Violence.

We examined whether childhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with adolescent gun violence and whether early symptoms of conduct disorder and/or exposure to delinquent peers accounted for the linkage. Participants were 503 predominately Black and White boys who were recruited in 1st grade from Pittsburgh public schools. Multi-informant assessments were conducted regularly from approximately ages 7 to 20. A latent socioeconomic disadvantage factor was estimated with census-tract and parent-reported data when boys were about age 7½. Latent growth curve models assessed parent/teacher-reported conduct problems and youth-reported peer delinquency from about ages 7½ to 10. The outcome was youth-reported engagement in gun violence by about age 20. We also controlled for race. Analyses examined whether the association between childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and adolescent gun violence was mediated through early conduct problems and/or increased exposure to delinquent peers. Childhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with adolescent gun violence, and some of this effect was mediated through peer delinquency and conduct problems. Specifically, childhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with greater affiliation with delinquent peers in early childhood, and early peer delinquency promoted a greater increase in conduct problems across childhood, and these conduct problems, in turn, led to an increased risk for adolescent gun violence. In summary, this study found that early socioeconomic disadvantage was directly and indirectly related to adolescent gun violence. Results suggest that interventions that aim to reduce conduct problems and deviant peer group affiliation in childhood might be important windows of opportunity for reducing gun violence in impoverished neighborhoods.

Historical Trauma and American Indian/Alaska Native Youth Mental Health Development and Delinquency.

Health disparities in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth are well documented in the literature, as AI/AN youth appear to be more likely to experience trauma and engage in high-risk behavior, such as substance misuse and risky sexual behavior. These youth also appear disproportionally affected by the criminal justice system. Scholars contend that much of these disparities can be traced back to the history of colonization of Indigenous peoples and the transgenerational effects of forced suppression of cultural ideology. This paper reviews the relevant literature on AI/AN youth mental and behavioral health, and this author highlights studies which examine the plausible relation between historical trauma and contemporary AI/AN youth mental health and delinquency. This author proposes that future research should target the high number of AI/AN youths in juvenile justice settings given that these youths appear neglected in current research.

From Child Welfare to Jail: Mediating Effects of Juvenile Justice Placement and Other System Involvement.

This study examines the effects of child welfare, mental health, and drug/alcohol system experiences on jail involvement, as mediated by juvenile justice placement, for Black and White youth/young adults. The sample was comprised of individuals born between 1985 and 1994 with child welfare involvement in an urban Pennsylvania county (N = 37,079) and an out-of-home placement (OOHP) subsample (n = 8,317). Four path models were estimated (two full samples, two subsamples; separate models for Black and White youth). For all models, juvenile justice placement was positively related to jail involvement. For the full samples, out-of-home child welfare placement was associated with an increase in juvenile justice placement. Within the Black placement sample, child welfare placement experiences had complex relationships with juvenile justice placement. Providing drug/alcohol services may be a protective factor for Black youth prior to juvenile justice contact. Articulating these relationships helps identify youth most at risk of justice system involvement and better targets services, especially mental health and drug/alcohol services.

Health determinants of adolescent criminalisation.

Several conditions related to health and development in adolescence can increase the risk that a young person will be exposed to the criminal justice system. Such determinants include neurodevelopmental disability, poor mental health, trauma, and experiences of maltreatment. Furthermore, the risk of exposure to the criminal justice system seems to be amplified by social marginalisation and inequality, such that young people are made susceptible to criminal behaviour and criminalisation by a combination of health difficulties and social disadvantages. This Review presents evidence on the health determinants of criminalisation among adolescents, providing a persuasive case for policy and practice reform, including for investment in approaches to prevent criminalisation on the basis of health and developmental difficulties, and to better address related needs once within a criminal justice system.

Access to Reproductive Health Care in Juvenile Justice Facilities.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The juvenile justice system houses adolescents with unique and unmet reproductive needs, including family planning. The purpose of this study was to identify access to contraceptive counseling and methods for young women in the juvenile justice system. DESIGN: We administered a cross-sectional survey that was used to examine services related to reproductive health care, including contraceptive counseling, and ability to initiate or continue contraceptive methods in custody. SETTING: Juvenile justice systems in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: State-level health care administrators in juvenile justice systems. INTERVENTIONS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We analyzed responses to determine the ability of young women in custody to continue or initiate specific contraceptive methods, in addition to other measures of reproductive health access. RESULTS: Twenty-one respondents representing systems in 20 US states were included in analysis. All participating sites provided contraceptive counseling and all allowed at least 1 form of preincarceration contraception to be continued. Eighty-one percent (17/21) of systems enabled young women to initiate contraception while in custody, with the most common method available on-site being birth control pills. Twenty percent (4/20) of sites provided long-acting reversible contraceptive methods. CONCLUSION: This study shows that it is feasible to provide contraception in this setting. However, there exists considerable variability in availability of methods across the United States. Continued work is needed in increasing access to contraception and standardization of care in the juvenile justice system.

Long-Term Predictive Validity of the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II: Research and Practice Implications.

The current study evaluated the predictive validity of the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II) scores in a sample of juveniles who recidivated sexually or nonsexually as adults. Participants included 166 juveniles who had previously sexually offended and were followed into adulthood for an average of 10.75 years. Results of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analyses supported the predictive validity of the J-SOAP-II Total Score, Scale 1, and Static Score in regard to adult sexual recidivism, and predictive validity was found for all J-SOAP-II scores (except Scale 1) in regard to adult nonsexual recidivism. Implications for future research on the assessment of risk factors and treatment needs for adolescents who commit sexual offenses are discussed.

An examination of the influence of procedurally just strategies on legal cynicism among urban youth experiencing police contact.

Adolescents experience more police-initiated contacts resulting from relatively minor infractions than any other group, and often these interactions do not result in notable legal consequences. However, such interactions may have long-term consequences for adolescent perceptions of the justice system. Using data from the age 15 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, our study examines associations between situational and process features of police contact and legal cynicism in adolescence, accounting for demographic characteristics, self-reported delinquency, neighborhood context, and stop outcome. Relative to youth who experienced only vicarious police contact, youth who had direct or both direct and vicarious police contact reported higher levels of legal cynicism. Youth perceptions of procedural justice were associated with lower legal cynicism. Situational features of police contact such as harsh language and frisking were related to higher legal cynicism. Directions for future research, including the need for longitudinal research on this topic, are discussed.

Association of Childhood History of Parental Incarceration and Juvenile Justice Involvement With Mental Health in Early Adulthood.

Importance: Young adults with a childhood history of parental incarceration (PI) or juvenile justice involvement (JJI) are more likely to have worse mental health outcomes than their peers. However, the association between mental health and exposure to both PI and JJI (PI plus JJI) is unclear. Objective: To determine the association of PI plus JJI exposure with mental health outcomes in young adulthood. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional study of the US National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health was conducted to examine the associations between PI, JJI, and PI plus JJI and mental health outcomes (ie, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation, and mental health counseling). In-home interviews were conducted of 13 083 participants; 704 participants with PI after age 18 years were excluded, and 12 379 participants formed the analysis sample. Participants were in grades 7 to 12 in 1994 to 1995 and were ages 24 to 32 years at follow-up in 2008. Data analysis was completed in 2019. Exposures: Parental incarceration, JJI, or PI plus JJI before age 18 years. Main Outcomes and Measures: Mental health outcomes in early adulthood (ages 24-32 years). The analysis included multivariable logistic regression models; accounted for individual, family, and geographic-level factors; and generated adjusted odds ratios. Results: Among 13 083 participants (6962 female; weighted proportion, 49.6%) with a mean age at wave 1 of 15.4 years (95% CI, 15.2-15.7 years), 10 499 (80.2%) did not have a history of PI or JJI, 1247 (9.1%) had childhood PI, 704 (5.2%) had PI after age 18 years, 492 (4.5%) had JJI only, and 141 (1.2%) had PI plus JJI. Sociodemographic characteristics varied by exposure. Exposure to both PI and JJI was associated with a greater risk of depression (adjusted odds ratio, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.60-4.90), anxiety (adjusted odds ratio, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.08-3.31), and posttraumatic stress disorder (adjusted odds ratio, 2.92; 95% CI, 1.09-7.82) compared with peers with neither exposure. Exposure to both PI and JJI did not have an additive association with mental health beyond PI or JJI alone. Conclusions and Relevance: This study suggests that exposure to the criminal justice system during childhood places individuals at risk for poor mental health outcomes in early adulthood. Clinical, advocacy, and policy efforts that prioritize reducing the impact of the US criminal justice system on children may yield substantive improvements in the mental well-being of those individuals as adults.

Dual System Youth and their Pathways: A Comparison of Incidence, Characteristics and System Experiences using Linked Administrative Data.

Insight into the characteristics and system experiences for youth who touch both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems has increased over the last decade. These youth are typically studied as one population and referred to as "crossover youth." While this literature contributes valuable insight into who crossover youth are, studies are virtually silent on distinguishing characteristics and experiences across different pathways leading to dual system contact. This study reviews what is currently known about dual system youth generally (i.e., youth who have contact with both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems) and introduces a framework for consistently defining dual system youth and their pathways. The utility of the framework is then explored using linked administrative data for cohorts of youth aged 10 to 18 years old with a first petition to delinquency court in three sites: Cook County, Illinois between 2010 and 2014 (N = 14,170); Cuyahoga County, Ohio between 2010 and 2014 (N = 11,441); and New York City between 2013 and 2014 (N = 1272). The findings show a high prevalence of dual system contact overall, ranging from 44.8 to 70.3%, as well as wide variation in the ways in which youth touched both systems. Specifically, non-concurrent system contact is more prevalent than concurrent system contact in all sites, and individual characteristics and system experiences vary within and across these different pathway groups. Based on study findings, implications for future research on dual system youth and for developing collaborative practices and policies across the systems are discussed.

Associations of ethnic/racial discrimination with internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors among juvenile justice-involved youth of color.

INTRODUCTION: Youth of color (e.g., Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic) are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system and experience greater health disparities compared to non-Hispanic White youth. Ethnic/racial discrimination (ERD) is a risk marker for poor mental health and behavioral outcomes among youth of color, and traumatic stress and emotion dysregulation have been implicated in these pathways. Despite the relevance of these factors for justice-involved youth of color, understanding of their interrelations within this demographic is lacking. METHODS: Participants were 173 recently arrested adolescents (86% African American; 45% girls; ages 13-18) on probation in a large Midwest city in the United States. Participants completed surveys assessing ERD, traumatic stress, emotion dysregulation, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors. Using linear regression and path analysis, this study tested the cross-sectional links among two types of ERD (i.e., interpersonal experiences and perceptions of group experiences), traumatic stress symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. RESULTS: Interpersonal ERD (e.g., hearing racial insults) was associated with increased internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors; for internalizing symptoms, the relation was stronger for girls than boys. Gender differences were partially accounted for by traumatic stress symptoms and emotion dysregulation. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers new insights into ERD experiences among juvenile justice-involved youth of color, gender differences in ethnic/racial discrimination experiences, and the potential value of gender-sensitive and culturally responsive programming in strengthening youths' ability to cope with ERD.

A Comparative Analysis of the Risk Profiles of Australian Young Offenders From Rural and Urban Communities.

Australian young people from rural areas, particularly Aboriginal young people, are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. Apart from broad evidence regarding the entrenched social disadvantages experienced by young people in rural communities, the literature is limited in describing why this might be case. Due to these social disadvantages, it is hypothesised that young offenders from rural communities will have higher levels of offending risk factors, as measured by the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory-Australian Adaption (YLS/CMI-AA). A total of 6,750 archival records were analysed, showing that significantly more Aboriginal young offenders live in rural areas. Contrary to the hypothesis, urban young offenders had significantly higher risk scores than rural young offenders. These findings suggest that there may be particular ecological factors that are not assessed in the current risk assessment instrument or that rural young people have a range of protective factors that may insulate against the broader context of social disadvantage.

Medicaid Coverage and Continuity for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth.

This study examined Medicaid coverage and continuity for youth with varying levels of justice system involvement and the impact of a policy change allowing Medicaid suspension, rather than termination. Data for this study were collected using a retrospective cohort design using arrest records and Medicaid enrollment tables for 20,688 youth. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, and deepest level of justice system involvement all were associated with time to de-enrollment from Medicaid. Suspension was associated with a small improvement in Medicaid continuity for justice-involved youth. In addition, youth with deeper levels of justice system involvement had faster time to de-enrollment. This study highlights the importance of maximizing opportunities to keep youth enrolled, as gaps in coverage will likely affect juveniles' access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care.

Scared or Attached? Unraveling Important Links in Strain-Crime Relationships Among School Students.

Drawing on general strain theory of crime, the study employs the survey data from a random sample of 600 school students in Lviv, Ukraine, to examine how sanction risks and social bonds mediate and moderate the relationship between strain and adolescent delinquency. Findings from negative binomial regressions and the KHB decomposition procedure demonstrate that fear of sanctions and levels of social control mediate the relationships between strain and delinquency to a different degree, depending on the type of strain experienced. Results concerning conditioning effects are mixed, with only parental monitoring found to be a moderator of the strain-delinquency link. However, the direction of the interaction effect is unexpected. Future research needs to improve the specification of strain models and evaluate them in other sociocultural contexts.

Polyvictimization, Related Symptoms, and Familial and Neighborhood Contexts as Longitudinal Mediators of Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Violence Exposure Across Adolescence.

African American and Hispanic adolescent experience more violence exposure relative to White youth. The present study examined the mediating role of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), delinquency, earlier victimization, and familial and neighborhood factors in disparities in future victimization. The study utilized data from the National Survey of Adolescents-Replication (N = 3,312), which consists of three waves of data collected approximately 1 year apart. A series of path models, tested polyvictimization, PTSS, delinquency, familial socioeconomic factors, and neighborhood safety as mediators of disparities in new polyvictimization. All cross-lagged and autoregressive paths positively predicted past-year polyvictimization and mediated longitudinal disparities. Familial socioeconomic variables and neighborhood safety mediated initial violence exposure disparities. Overall, results indicate that prior violence exposure, related mental health symptoms, and familial and neighborhood factors account for significant portions of disparities in new violence exposure across adolescence.

When is neuropsychological testing medically necessary for children on medicaid in New Mexico?

Healthcare for poor children, also known as Medicaid, is disproportionately relied upon by citizens of poor states such as New Mexico, where (a) there are more unintended pregnancies, (b) domestic violence during and after pregnancies occurs with regularity, (c) youth substance use is much more common, (d) crime rates are some of the worst in the country, (e) many never graduate from high school, and (f) incarceration is often inevitable. Yet, there is a dearth of research into the neuropsychological health of these children. Meanwhile, nonneuropsychologists working for managed care organizations routinely deny authorization for neuropsychological testing based on a lack of medical necessity. The present article addresses the question of neuropsychological medical necessity using community-based neuropsychological data from New Mexico collected on Medicaid and non-Medicaid youth via retroactive chart review. Downstream fiscal implications that are related to the eventual cost of mental illness and crime among those with poor neuropsychological health are discussed.

Hopelessness and Delinquent Behavior as Predictors of Community Violence Exposure in Ethnic Minority Male Adolescent Offenders.

Justice-involved boys from urban communities are disproportionately impacted by community violence exposure (ECV) and despite decades of research, rates of ECV in youth continue to increase particularly for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Despite the increased risk of exposure, the majority of research focuses on what may protect youth from the deleterious outcomes associated with violence exposure, rather than strategies that may prevent the violence exposure from occurring. The current study seeks to shift the focus of research in this area to examining factors that may predict future violence exposure. Specifically, the purpose of the current study is to examine the role of hopelessness as a predictor of the risk for violence exposure in a sample of 831 justice-involved, urban boys ages 14-18 (52.2% African American, 42.1% Hispanic, 5.7% other). Results revealed that baseline levels of low aspirations and hopelessness towards the future indirectly predicted violence exposure 1 year later through engagement in delinquent behavior. Clinical implications for targeting youth with elevated risk and preventing future violence exposure are discussed.

Young People Under Youth Justice Supervision With Varying Child Protection Histories: An Analysis of Group Differences.

There is now convincing evidence that childhood maltreatment is associated with youth offending; however, relatively little is known about the characteristics and needs of those who are involved in both the child protection and youth justice systems, and the extent to which these might differ according to level of child protection involvement. This study reports the characteristics and needs of 2,045 young people who were under supervision in secure custody or detention in South Australia between 1995 and 2012 according to the level of exposure to the child protection system in an Australian jurisdiction. Five groups of young offenders were compared: (a) no known child protection notifications or substantiated experience of abuse and/or neglect, (b) notifications only, (c) substantiated notifications, (d) notifications or substantiations and subsequent placement in out-of-home care (OHC), and (e) placement in OHC only. The results indicate that young people who have a history of child protection system involvement have significantly greater and more complex needs than those who have no child protection experience. It is concluded that different service responses may be required to meet the diverse needs of these groups of young people under youth justice supervision.

Modification of Housing Mobility Experimental Effects on Delinquency and Educational Problems: Middle Adolescence as a Sensitive Period.

Residential mobility is one documented stressor contributing to higher delinquency and worse educational outcomes. Sensitive period life course models suggest that certain developmental stages make individuals more susceptible to the effects of an exposure, like residential mobility, on outcomes. However, most prior research is observational, and has not examined heterogeneity across age or gender that may inform sensitive periods, even though it may have important implications for the etiology of adolescent development. Moreover, there are important translational implications for identifying the groups most vulnerable to residential mobility to inform how to buffer adverse effects of moving. In this study, low-income families were randomized to residential mobility out of public housing into lower poverty neighborhoods using a rental subsidy voucher ("experimental voucher condition"), and were compared to control families remaining in public housing. The sample was comprised of 2829 youth (51% female; 62% Non-Hispanic Black, 31% Hispanic, 7% other race). At baseline, youth ranged from 5 to 16 years old. This study hypothesized that random assignment to the housing voucher condition would generate harmful effects on delinquency and educational problems, compared to the control group, among boys who were older at baseline. The results confirmed this hypothesis: random assignment to the experimental voucher condition generating residential mobility caused higher delinquency among boys who were 13-16 years old at baseline, compared to same-age, in-place public housing controls. However, residential mobility did not affect delinquency among girls regardless of age, or among boys who were 5-12 years old at baseline. The pattern of results for educational problems was similar but weaker. Families with teenage boys are particularly vulnerable to residential transitions. Incorporating additional supports into housing programs may help low-income, urban families to successfully transition to lower poverty neighborhoods.