This article presents a mixed-method evaluation of juvenile justice contact, educational trajectories, and recidivism.
In this study, quantitative analyses demonstrate that formal education attainment, but not intelligence, is significantly related to recidivism, while qualitative transcripts of structured interviews illustrate that juvenile justice contact can impede educational aspirations and achievement. The authors discuss policy implications, including making education a consistent predictor of post-release success, accessible to incarcerated and reentering individuals and altering exclusionary school discipline policies. Research demonstrates strong relationships between education and positive post-prison outcomes. Recognizing that educational trajectories can be disrupted early on, this paper investigates the impact of juvenile justice contact on educational attainment, educational aspirations, and recidivism. The authors examine relationships in data from two connected prison-based data collection projects both quantitatively (n = 174) and qualitatively (n = 88). The authors utilize Cox models to assess the impact of education on recidivism among a sample of incarcerated men with substance use disorders. Longitudinal in-depth semi-structured interviews reveal patterns of juvenile justice contact, perceptions of school, educational aspirations, and post-release outcomes. (Published Abstract Provided)