NCJ Number
225478
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 47 Issue: 5 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 501-511
Date Published
December 2008
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study uses data from self-admitted but other wise unidentified violent offenders to statistically identify the factors influencing respondent self-assessments of whether they would violently reoffend.
Abstract
The analysis shows that respondents’ predictions about their violent reoffending varied significantly between juveniles and young adults. A pattern of offender-based influences strongly suggests that juveniles, particularly males, learn that they can get away with violence. However, as the data show, some adult offenders do not desist. In summation, it is suggested that juveniles’ and adults’ self-assessments are completely different but the results do show some overlap between them. Serious violence is often not reported to the police. Most violent offenders are either never arrested or only arrested for non-violent offenses. Yet, most recidivism studies rely on data from perpetrators known to the criminal justice system, leaving the recidivism risk for certain offenders largely unexplored. This research analyzes nationally-representative self-report data, the 2004 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS), from juvenile and adult violent offenders. It explores which factors affect perpetrators’ self-assessed likelihood of recidivism and how those factors differ between adults and youth. The goal is to provide insight into the factors that predict unreported violence and whether those differ between these groups. Table, references