NCJ Number
93482
Date Published
1982
Length
60 pages
Annotation
This research tests the hypothesis that delinquents who refrain from further delinquent acts following their first justice system contact may be different from recidivistic juvenile offenders on some biological, psychological, or social variables.
Abstract
Should the tested variables discriminate the one-time offender from the nonoffender before the onset of delinquent behavior, then possibly the variables predispose the one-time offender to be more sensitive than the recidivist to the deterrent effects of negative sanctions applied by the justice system. The first study used a birth cohort of 4,267 Danish males to examine the relationship of perinatal factors to the one-time offender recidivist dichotomy. The hypothesis stated that one-time offenders would have suffered more perinatal complications than recidivists, because perinatal complications have been shown to relate positively to autonomic nervous system (ANS) sensitivity; ANS sensitivity may predispose children to be susceptible to the deterrent effects of punishment. Results did not disconfirm this hypothesis. In addition, analyses of constructed scales reflecting motor development and size development by 1 year of age showed that the one-time offender is both smaller and more precocious in development of motor skills during early childhood than are both nonoffenders and recidivists. Using a subset of 129 males from the Danish birth cohort, the second study examined the differences between one-time and recidivists offenders on a number of variables measured during preadolescence. Family status, school adjustment, IQ, empathic ability, neurological status, EEG measures of CNS activity, and skin conductance measures of ANS responsiveness were considered. One-time offenders were significantly different from recidivists in family status, school adjustment, WISC verbal IQ, WISC full IQ, Feffer Empathy, and one subtest of the neurological examination. The one-time offenders scored better on family status, school adjustment, and empathy and had more neurological abnormalities than did nonoffenders, as well as recidivists. In term of the original hypotheses, the results of both studies suggest that an individual who desists from delinquent behavior after one justice system contact shows more evidence of charactristics associated with sanction sensitivity than both the recidivistic offender and the nonoffender. Seven tables and 40 references are included. Appendixes include a description of the composite scores from the first study and the significant scores on perinatal items. (Author abstract modified)