NCJ Number
95708
Date Published
1985
Length
4 pages
Annotation
To examine juvenile parolees' backgrounds, attitudes, and parole success, interviews were conducted with 193 males at the end of their first stay at a California Youth Authority institution.
Abstract
Additional interviews were conducted in the parole community during the third and sixth month of parole, and followup information was collected at 12 and 24 months. A large majority of these youth (50 to 80 percent) felt close to their mothers but not their fathers, reported physical punishment, had negative impressions of school, and came from families on public assistance. In general, their attitudes toward the institution were positive. During parole, the number of youths with delinquent friends declined markedly, and social control elements were low. Intermittent work at low pay was the typical job pattern. At the end of the followup period, 42.5 percent were considered parole failures, 20.2 percent received honorable discharges, and 37.3 percent had cases pending or showed mixed outcomes. Analysis of the data demonstrated that three theories of delinquency explained over 30 percent of the total variance in parole performance success as measured by good street-time. These were the differential association, the social ecology, and the social competence theory. The predictors drawn from these theories support the idea that offenders make decisions about future behavior at some time during incarceration. Future research could be improved by measuring the strength of personal decisions to change delinquent behavior patterns. Additional information sources and six additional readings are provided.