Delinquent Recidivism (From Delinquency Careers in Two Birth Cohorts, P 99-174, 1990, by Paul E. Tracy, Marvin E. Wolfgang, et al., -- See NCJ-134672)

• NCJ Number: 134676
• Author(s): P E Tracy; M E Wolfgang; R M Figlio
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 76 pages
• Sale Source: Plenum Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data from 9,945 males born in Philadelphia in 1945 and 13,160 males born in Philadelphia in 1958 provided information regarding the likelihood of recidivism among juvenile delinquents and the severity and timing of offense.

Abstract

The results revealed that 53.6 percent of the delinquents in the 1945 cohort and 58.2 percent of the delinquents in the 1958 cohort were recidivists, with 18 percent of the first group and 23 percent of the second group arrested 5 or more times. In addition, first offenses were most often nonindex offenses and occurred at just over 14 years of age. The chronic recidivists also tended to specialized in the types of offenses committed. The results were clear for both cohorts, although different patterns were found by race. Repeat offenses tended to increase in seriousness as well, especially for offenses involving injuries. Finally, multiple regression analysis showed no significant variation in offense severity in relation to predictive factors such as prior severity, age, time between offenses, and number of intervening offenses. Tables