NCJ Number
115282
Date Published
1988
Length
90 pages
Annotation
This study tested various treatment modalities for habitual teenage traffic offenders.
Abstract
The sample consisted of teenage (16-18 year-olds) male traffic offenders appearing in the Norman Municipal Criminal Court (Oklahoma) during 1969-75. Information was collected on the personalities, families, and social traits of the offenders and a control group matched on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. The study focused on psychological motivation for offenders to violate the law, cognitive knowledge or lack of knowledge relevant to law violation, and values revelant to a person's concern for compliance with the law. School, court, and police records were reviewed. The outcome of sentencing and treatment dispositions were measured in terms of traffic recidivism, accident involvement, and nontraffic recidivism. Offenders were less oriented toward education, held lower status occupations, had fathers with fewer years of formal schooling, and were more oriented toward automobiles than the control group. Offenders were more psychologically motivated to violate the law, lacked a knowledge of the law, or were unwilling to submit to the value judgments implicit in the law. Subjects were randomly assigned to five treatment groups: fine without treatment sessions, individual psychological counseling, group psychological counseling, drivers education, and counseling on the consequences of bad driving habits. A study one year after completion of treatment indicated that individual psychological counseling and counseling on the consequences of bad driving habits were most effective. The descriptive-phase codebook is provided. Appended tabular data.