NCJ Number
209001
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2005 Pages: 59-73
Date Published
March 2005
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This 3-year longitudinal study of first-time juvenile status offenders randomly assigned to three treatment groups and a control group found no significant difference in recidivism rates among the groups.
Abstract
First-time juvenile offenders charged with the status offenses of tobacco or alcohol possession were randomly assigned to either a juvenile accountability group (n=72), a youth court group (n=75), a magistrate court group (n=83), and the control group (n=68). Members of the control group were referred to the juvenile accountability administrator for an interview in which the juvenile was informed of the citation and shown a short film. The juvenile was informed that the citation would not be filed if he/she discontinued the behavior charged in the citation for at least 1 year. Community resources were offered on a voluntary basis. For all groups combined there were 160 male participants and 133 female participants. For the entire sample 56.7 percent of the offenders did not recidivate over the 3 years of the study. Of those that did recidivate, 32.4 percent reoffended three times or less. Just over 1 percent recidivated 10 times or more, indicating they were chronic offenders. The four groups did not differ significantly in their recidivism rates nor in the types of offenses that constituted recidivism. Even though the diversion programs did not impact recidivism they still reduced the strain of the juvenile justice system, since they were less costly than traditional programs and served more offenders. Diversion through treatment or community corrections is much less costly than institutionalization. 4 tables and 21 references