NCJ Number
242634
Date Published
April 2013
Length
141 pages
Annotation
This report from the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges' Commission presents information on juvenile recidivism rates through the use of the 2007 case closure rate for juveniles involved with the State's juvenile justice system.
Abstract
This report highlights the recidivism rate for juveniles involved with the Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system through the examination of the State's 2007 case closure rates. Highlights of the findings include the following: 20 percent of juveniles recidivated within 2 years of their 2007 case closure; the average length of time to recidivism was 11.5 months from case closure; juveniles with four or more written allegations recidivated at a rate of 37 percent compared to 13 percent for those juveniles with only one written allegation; the older the child at the time of case closure, the more likely the child was to recidivate; and 90 percent of recidivists were male, with males three times more likely to recidivate than females. Additional findings present information by race of the offender, offenders' family situations, type of offense committed by the offender, type of disposition at time of case closure, recidivism rates by county, and recidivism rates by type of offender. Data used in this study were obtained from two sources: the Pennsylvania Juvenile Case Management System (PaJCMS) and the case management systems used by the Administrative office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC). The data obtained from the PaJCMS identified juveniles from counties that were involved with the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory Phase I implementation group who had a case closed in 2007. This information was cross-referenced against the data from AOPC to determine the individuals who re-offended as adults after their 2007 case closure. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes