Validity of Risk Assessment Instruments Among Juveniles Who Sexually Offended: Victim Age Matters.

Research has identified meaningful subtypes among the heterogeneous population of juveniles who sexually offended (JSO). However, studies that test the validity of risk assessment tools with JSO subtypes are limited. This study compared JSO who offended against a child victim (JSO-C) and JSO who offended against an adolescent/adult victim (JSO-A) with regard to rates of recidivism and the predictive validity of two risk assessment tools (Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism [ERASOR] and Juvenile Sexual Offender Assessment Protocol-II [J-SOAP-II]). Data were analyzed from case files of 185 JSO-C and 297 JSO-A aged 12 to 18 years (M = 14.11, SD = 1.44) from a consecutive sample of JSO with contact sexual offenses. A total of 34 (7.1%) juveniles reoffended sexually, with no significant difference between the subtypes. The present results suggest that the ERASOR, particularly the structured professional judgment, and to a lesser degree the J-SOAP-II are better suited to predicting sexual recidivism in JSO-A than in JSO-C.

Does childhood victimization predict specific adolescent offending? An analysis of generality versus specificity in the victim-offender overlap.

BACKGROUND: A large body of research has examined the relationship between victimization and future offending, with results suggesting that crime victims are at higher risk of future criminal behavior-known as the victim-offender overlap. Prior studies have primarily examined the relationship between general victimization (e.g., violent victimization, sexual abuse, and more) and general offending (e.g., violence, sexual offending, and drug use), and focused on adult populations. OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study is to expand on prior literature by examining if specific forms of childhood victimization increase the risk of specific and analogous forms of offending among delinquent youth. METHOD: Based upon a population of 64,329 high-risk youth offenders in Florida, this study evaluates the specificity of the overlap among youth who were physically abused, sexually abused, or witnessed illegal substance use at home during childhood to determine if these forms of victimization increased the risk of violence, sexual offending, and drug use, respectively, when assessed in multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Results provide considerable support for specificity in the victim-offender overlap, as hypothesized. Specifically, experiencing physical abuse (OR = 1.55, p < .001), sexual abuse (OR = 3.58, p < .001) and witnessing household substance abuse (OR = 1.66, p < .001) in childhood each significantly and substantially increased the risk of analogous criminal behavior in adolescence, even when controlling for other risk factors and forms of victimization. CONCLUSION: This study provided novel evidence for specificity in the victim-offender overlap, even after controlling for confounding variables. Practical implications for early intervention and crime prevention are discussed, as well as implications for future research. Highlighting the importance of specificity in the victimization and adverse childhood experience (ACE) paradigms.

Victimization Experiences and Executive Dysfunction as Discriminating Risk Indicators for Youth Offender Typologies.

Research is becoming increasingly nuanced in its examination of offenders, and thus typological distinctions according to generalist and/or specialization offense profiles may be notable for targeted intervention efforts within and between classifications of offenders. There is a significant body of evidence identifying early-life victimization and executive function deficits as critical developmental antecedents to sexual and non-sexual offending alike, but they have not been exhaustively evaluated as a discernable experience among criminally versatile offenders (youth who commit both sexual and non-sexual crimes). This study aims to address gaps by examining associations between early-life victimization, other traumatic experiences in the home, and executive functioning deficits and then test how disparate offending groups differentially experience these early risks. Using a sample of juvenile-justice-involved youth (N = 200), who committed sexual only offenses (n = 41), non-sexual only offenses (n = 124), and criminally versatile offenders (n = 27), multivariate analysis of variance tests and bivariate correlations were conducted. Results revealed that there were statistically significant correlations between measures of executive functioning and specific incidents of victimization, particularly sexual, physical, and emotional. There were also significant group differences in measures of sexual abuse, physical and emotional abuse, and executive functioning with criminally versatile offenders showing higher rates of physical and emotional abuse and sexual only offenders showing higher rates of sexual abuse and some executive functioning deficits. Practice and research implications are discussed.

Unpacking Adultification: Institutional Experiences and Misconduct of Adult Court and Juvenile Court Youth Living Under the Same Roof.

The present study explores the ability of juvenile waiver policy and the resulting adult court status to impact the experiences and behavior of male youth originating from differing jurisdictions but incarcerated together within state-level juvenile correctional facilities. Using official agency data and youth survey data, this research examines how "adult" status influences behavior for waived youth compared with their juvenile court counterparts. Structural equation modeling and multiple group analysis is used to determine the extent to which adult status moderates the measurement structure of models related to individual characteristics, institutional experiences, and institutional misconduct. Results reveal an improvement in model fit to occur when estimated across the two groups of juvenile court and adult court youth, beyond that which occurs when parameters are constrained to be equal for these two groups. This work reveals adult status to be powerful enough to moderate the effects of who a youth is and what that youth experiences, on how that youth behaves during a term of juvenile incarceration.

Toward a Classification of Juvenile Offenders: Subgroups of Serious Juvenile Offenders and Severity of Recidivism.

The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of serious juvenile offenders on the basis of their risk profiles, using a data-driven approach. The sample consists of 1,147 of the top 5% most serious juvenile offenders in the Netherlands. A part of the sample, 728 juvenile offenders who had been released from the institution for at least 2 years, was included in analyses on recidivism and the prediction of recidivism. Six subgroups of serious juvenile offenders were identified with cluster analysis on the basis of their scores on 70 static and dynamic risk factors: Cluster 1, antisocial identity; Cluster 2, frequent offenders; Cluster 3, flat profile; Cluster 4, sexual problems and weak social identity; Cluster 5, sexual problems; and Cluster 6, problematic family background. Clusters 4 and 5 are the most serious offenders before treatment, committing mainly sex offences. However, they have significantly lower rates of recidivism than the other four groups. For each of the six clusters, a unique set of risk factors was found to predict severity of recidivism. The results suggest that intervention should aim at different risk factors for each subgroup.

"SAFEGUARDING THE INTERESTS OF THE STATE" FROM DEFECTIVE DELINQUENT GIRLS.

The 1911 mental classification, "defective delinquent," was created as a temporary legal-medical category in order to identify a peculiar class of delinquent girls in a specific institutional setting. The defective delinquent's alleged slight mental defect, combined with her appearance of normalcy, rendered her a "dangerous" and "incurable" citizen. At the intersection of institutional history and the history of ideas, this article explores the largely overlooked role of borderline mental classifications of near-normalcy in the medicalization of intelligence and criminality during the first third of the twentieth-century United States. Borderline classifications served as mechanisms of control over women's bodies through the criminalization of their minds, and the advent of psychometric tests legitimated and facilitated the spread of this classification beyond its original and intended context. The borderline case of the defective delinquent girl demonstrates the significance of marginal mental classifications to the policing of bodies through the medicalization of intellect.

Risk and Criminogenic Needs of Youth Who Sexually Offended in Singapore: An Examination of Two Typologies.

An increasing amount of research has been carried out to understand the characteristics of subgroups of adult sex offenders, but there is limited research into the risk factors and criminogenic needs of subgroups of youth who sexually offended. The current study investigated if there were differences in the risk and criminogenic needs of 167 Singaporean youth who sexually offended based on two typologies - youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually versus youth who offended only sexually, and youth who offended against child victims versus youth who offended against nonchild victims. Results show that youth who offended both sexually and nonsexually were found to have higher risk and criminogenic needs as compared to youth who only sexually offended. In addition, youth who offended against child victims were found to have higher numbers of previous sexual assaults as compared to youth who offended against nonchild victims. These differences have implications for the management and intervention of youth who sexually offended.

Examining the developmental trajectories of adolescent sexual offenders.

The aim of the current study was to assess the validity of the sex-plus versus sex-only categorization method for distinguishing between different types of adolescent sex offenders (ASOs; Butler & Seto, 2002). It is hypothesized that this categorization method has utility when attempting to distinguish between generalist and specialist ASOs (Seto & Pullman, 2014). Additionally, further classification of ASOs was attempted using a well known juvenile delinquency classification scheme, early-onset versus late-onset offenders (Moffitt, 1993). The current study was an archival analysis of clinical files from a sample of 158 male ASOs seen for clinical assessment at a Metropolitan Family Court Clinic. Results indicate that sex-plus offenders are more antisocial, exhibit more psychiatric issues, and have greater deficits in general social skills compared to sex-only offenders. Conversely, sex-only offenders were found to have more atypical sexual interests, and were more likely to have greater deficits in romantic relationships compared to sex-plus offenders. Due to a power related limitation, little support was found for the use of the early-onset versus late-onset classification scheme with ASOs. Overall, these results provide further support to the validity of a sex-only versus sex-plus distinction. Given these results mirror those found in the generalist/specialist literature regarding the etiology of ASOs, sex-only and sex-plus offenders may indeed have different etiological pathways: sex-plus offenders are more driven by general antisociality factors, as the generalist perspective suggests, and sex-only offenders are more driven by special factors, as the specialist explanations suggest.

Delinquency, depression, and substance use disorder among child welfare-involved adolescent females.

Although adolescents with delinquency are known to have higher-than-average rates of depression or substance use disorder (SUD), research on the topic is inconsistent. It remains unclear weather depression or SUD leads to delinquency, whether delinquency leads to depression or SUD, or whether there is bi-directionality. Utilizing the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (Wave I: 2008-2009; Wave II: 18 months later: N=5872), we used logistic regression to predict depression from delinquency (and vice versa), and SUD from delinquency (and vice versa). After inclusion of control variables, we found that females with minor theft in Wave I were more than 4 times as likely (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=4.34; 95% CI: 1.10-17.16) as females without minor theft to be depressed in Wave II, and those with public disorder in Wave I were almost 3 times as likely (aOR=2.74; 95% CI: 1.03-7.30) as those without public disorder to have SUD in Wave II. Overall delinquency also predicted depression or SUD, and SUD predicted delinquency. Practitioners could address risk for depression or SUD among child welfare-involved adolescent females by focusing on overall delinquency or on specific types of delinquency (minor theft for depression and public disorder for SUD) and by offering interventions (e.g., cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy) that have been shown to be effective in preventing depression or SUD. In addition, with respect to our finding that SUD predicts delinquency among adolescent females, practitioners can help prevent delinquency by offering interventions (e.g., intensive outpatient treatments) that have well documented effectiveness in addressing SUD.

Distinguishing Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) characteristics associated with violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency.

This study examined the relationship between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales and violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. Participants were 260 adolescent boys and girls in a forensic setting. Results indicated that Disconstraint (DISC), a marker of behavioral disinhibition and impulsivity, was associated with nonviolent delinquency, whereas Aggressiveness (AGGR), which is characterized by the use of instrumental aggression and interpersonal dominance, was specifically associated with violent delinquency. These findings are consistent with expectations based on empirical findings in the broader personality literature linking the construct of disinhibition with externalizing psychopathology as well as the literature identifying callous-unemotional aggression as a risk factor for violence.

A cross-validation of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) among Japanese juvenile offenders.

The main purpose of the current research is to examine the applicability of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in a Japanese juvenile offender population. Three hundred eighty-nine youths who were released from the five Juvenile Classification Homes were followed for approximately one and half years. Results show that the YLS/CMI total score significantly predict recidivism. Survival time analysis demonstrates that the YLS/CMI total score also significantly predicted faster time to recidivism. The overall findings support adequate predictive validity of the YLS/CMI total score, but subscales lacked content representativeness and predictive validity in this sample. Canadian and Japanese cultural differences in criminal history and substance abuse are contributors to the lack of content representativeness.

Distinguishing among weapons offenders, drug offenders, and weapons and drug offenders based on childhood predictors and adolescent correlates.

BACKGROUND: Weapons and drug offences incur a large cost to society and tend to be strongly associated. Improved understanding of their antecedents could inform targeted early intervention and prevention programmes. AIM: This study aimed to examine differences in criminal careers, childhood predictors and adolescent correlates among weapons-only offenders, drugs-only offenders and a versatile group of weapons + drugs offenders. METHOD: We conducted a longitudinal records study of 455 young Canadians charged with drug and/or weapons offences who started their offending in late childhood/early adolescence. RESULTS: Consistent with expectation, differences emerged in their criminal careers as the versatile group had a longer criminal career and desisted from offending at a later age than weapons-only offenders. Against prediction, weapons-only offenders experienced the greatest number of childhood predictors and adolescent correlates. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The three offending groups could be differentiated on offending trajectories and developmental factors.In making links between past events and later behaviour, life-course criminology may inform development of effective early intervention and prevention strategies.As weapons-only offenders experience the greatest level of adversity in childhood and adolescence, they may benefit most (of these three groups) from early intervention and prevention programmes.A reduction in weapon carrying and use might be achieved by early identification of children risk factors (e.g. family adversity) and appropriate intervention.

Processes of intermittency in criminal careers: notes from a Swedish study on life courses and crime.

This article explores the concept of "intermittency" and uses qualitative life history narratives with male offenders from The Stockholm Life Course Project to distinguish between two qualitatively different forms of intermittent offending. Findings suggest that one form of intermittency can be characterized by "breaks" and "pauses" in offending, where the offender for a period of time "holds up" but without attempting to commit to any long-term change in trajectory. The second form can best be understood as incomplete or aborted attempts at desistance, where attempts to change are present but not realized. Perceived or experienced failure to enter conventional roles and engage in conventional practices is highly relevant to understand these attempts. The intermittent zigzag patterns of offending observed in quantitative studies of criminal careers can thus actually entail qualitatively different life course processes of continuity and change. Implications for policy and future research are highlighted.

Gender and age differences in self-reported aggression of high school students.

The purpose of the study was to (a) investigate gender and age differences in physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility, and (b) examine the discriminatory power of the Greek version of the Aggression Questionnaire (GAQ) with high school students. The sample of the study consisted of 658 high school students (321 boys and 337 girls), with an age range from 13 to 17 years (M = 15.3, SD = 1.5). The students completed the Aggression Questionnaire adapted to Greek. Regarding gender, the overall correct identification rate in the discriminant analysis showed that 73.3% of the cases were correctly classified. In addition, the results indicated that physical aggression declined with age and that, compared to boys, girls of higher grades apply more indirect forms of aggression, such as anger and hostility. The findings of the study provide important information regarding the expression of aggressive behavior during adolescence.

Genetic risk for violent behavior and environmental exposure to disadvantage and violent crime: the case for gene-environment interaction.

Despite mounds of evidence to suggest that neighborhood structural factors predict violent behavior, almost no attention has been given to how these influences work synergistically (i.e., interact) with an individual's genetic propensity toward violent behavior. Indeed, two streams of research have, heretofore, flowed independently of one another. On one hand, criminologists have underscored the importance of neighborhood context in the etiology of violence. On the other hand, behavioral geneticists have argued that individual-level genetic propensities are important for understanding violence. The current study seeks to integrate these two compatible frameworks by exploring gene-environment interactions (GxE). Two GxEs were examined and supported by the data (i.e., the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health). Using a scale of genetic risk based on three dopamine genes, the analysis revealed that genetic risk had a greater influence on violent behavior when the individual was also exposed to neighborhood disadvantage or when the individual was exposed to higher violent crime rates. The relevance of these findings for criminological theorizing was considered.

Development of an object relation-based typology of adolescent sex offenders.

The aim of this study was to develop a typology of adolescent sex offenders based on object relations theory and Otto F. Kernberg's model of personality organizations (PO). A secondary objective was to compare the identified subtypes on offense characteristics as well as some psychological variables of adolescent sex offenders. Clinical files from 40 male adolescent sex offenders in treatment were examined. Cluster analysis based on PO and object relations variables identified six subtypes of offenders, in line with Kernberg's PO model. These subtypes differed from one another on various variables pertaining to characteristics of sex offenses, general delinquency, relational/sexual history, and trauma history.

Sex differences in offending trajectories in a Swedish cohort.

BACKGROUND: Despite the increased interest in female offending trajectories over the last decades, knowledge is still limited. AIM: To meet the need for more knowledge on female offending trajectories by studying sex differences in criminal career patterns. METHOD: Data on 518 female and 2567 male offenders up to age 30 from the Swedish longitudinal Project Metropolitan study were analysed using latent class analysis. RESULTS: The female offenders were much less predisposed to offend than the males, but when they did, they tended to follow a similar set of trajectories to males in their criminal development over time. Four criminal career patterns were identified for each sex. Two patterns were the same between the sexes, and two were gender unique. All career patterns had meaningful and distinct associations with crime characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Our study presents indicators relating both to gender differences and to heterogeneity within the group of female offenders. One important finding was the identification of an adult-onset offender group unique to females. This group was characterised by high criminal activity over the years following their late onset. Further research will focus on the childhood origins, pathways and outcomes of different female antisocial and criminal careers.

A comparison of diversity, frequency, and severity self-reported offending scores among female offending youth.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 24(3) of Psychological Assessment (see record 2012-04601-001). The article contained a number of errors which are corrected in the erratum.] Despite general consensus over the value of measuring self-reported offending, discrepancies exist in methods of scoring self-reported offending and the length of the reference period over which offending is assessed. This analysis compared the concurrent interassociations and longitudinal predictive strength of diversity, frequency, and severity offending scores measured over the past 6 months and diversity and severity scores measured "ever" between assessments. For violent offending, different scorings were highly correlated and equally predictive of adulthood offending. For nonviolent offending, there was significant continuity in diversity and severity-weighted diversity scores over the transition to adulthood but not in nonviolent frequency or severity-weighted frequency scores. Results support the use of offending diversity scores rather than offending frequency scores and highlight the importance of examining nonviolent and violent offending as separate constructs.

Recidivism in subgroups of serious juvenile offenders: different profiles, different risks?

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that the treatment of juvenile offenders is most effective when it takes into account the possible risk factors for re-offending. It may be asked whether juvenile offenders can be treated as one homogeneous group, or, if they are divisible into subgroups, whether different risk factors are predictive of recidivism. AIMS AND HYPOTHESES: Our aims were to find out whether serious juvenile offenders may be subdivided into clearly defined subgroups and whether such subgroups might differ in terms of the risk factors that predict recidivism. METHODS: In a sample of 1111 serious juvenile offenders, latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups. For each juvenile offender, 70 risk factors were registered. Severity of recidivism was measured on a 12-point scale. Analysis was then conducted to identify the risk factors that best predicted the different patterns of recidivism. RESULTS: Four distinct subgroups of juvenile offenders were identified: serious violent offenders, violent property offenders, property offenders, and sex offenders. Violent property offenders were the most serious recidivists and had the highest number of risk factors. Serious violent offenders and property offenders were characterised by overt and covert behaviour, respectively. Sex offenders differed from the other three groups in the rarity of their recidivism and in the risk factors that are present. For each of these four subgroups, a different set of risk factors was found to predict severity of recidivism. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in recidivism rates occurred in spite of the fact that most of these youngsters had been in the standard treatment programme offered to serious juvenile offenders in the Netherlands. This was not a treatment outcome study, but the indication that two of the groups identified in our study appeared to be worse after going through this programme, whereas the other two did quite well in terms of recidivism lends weight to our idea that such classification of juvenile offenders may lead to more targeted treatment programmes that would better serve both the general public and the youths concerned.