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Delinquent Behavior And Recidivism Among Juveniles In The Southeastern United States, Anthony Bernard Essix Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, juvenile delinquent behavior has continued to rise despite attempts by the legal system and policymakers. Much of the research contributing to the understanding of juvenile delinquency and recidivism has been focused on risk factors believed to push an individual to show signs of delinquency. Limited research has been conducted to explain how policies affect juvenile behaviors. The current study examined risk factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency to determine if a factor may have been overlooked in prior juvenile studies. Based on anomie and strain theory, a qualitative method of general inquiry was used to gain …

Juvenile Probation Officers’ Perspectives On The Success Factors Of Youth Diversion Programs, Kya Tanique Robertson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The goal of youth diversion programs includes reducing recidivism while granting opportunities for youth to refocus their paths. Although juvenile probation officers' role is vital to supervised probation in youth diversion programs, the problem is that there is a lack of literature that assesses the success of the factors of mentoring, education, and mental health treatment that directly connect youth with social services. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of juvenile probation officers on the success factors of youth diversion programs as they relate to mentoring, education, and mental health treatment. Becker's labeling theory …

Forensic Experts’ Perspectives On Australian Indigenous Sexual Offenders And Factors Important In Evaluating The Risk Of Recidivism, Alfred Allan, Cate L. Parry, Hilde Tubex, Caroline Spiranovic, Frank Morgan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Law and ethics require that risk assessment should be cross-culturally valid and fair, but Australian research in this regard is underdeveloped. A logical first step in progressing the work required to build a strong evidence base on culturally sensitive risk assessment in Australia is to determine the expert views of those in the field. We interviewed 13 Australian evaluators who assess Indigenous sexual offenders’ recidivism risk to determine their perceptions of the risk assessment instruments they use and the attributes they believe evaluators doing cross-cultural assessments should have. Our central findings are that evaluators use the available instruments because they …

Juvenile Justice Administration In Ghana, Juliana Mameefua Asamoah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The juvenile justice policy in Ghana seems to conflict with current administrative practices. As such it appears impossible to achieve the aim of rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. While there is literature documenting this conflict, little has been documented on approaching the issue from the perspective of the administrators of juvenile justice. The research purpose was to bridge this gap in literature by exploring and understanding what could improve the implementation processes of policies pertaining to juveniles in conflict with the law. The theoretical framework for this study was the advocacy coalition framework. The research questions focused on how juvenile justice administrators …

Community Attitudes Towards Juvenile Sex Offenders And Registration In Virginia, Paige Reed

Theses and Dissertations

The collateral consequences and harmful effects of juvenile sex offender registration and restrictions has been the forefront of conversation surrounding sex offender legislation in the United States. The literature available has consistently shown that juveniles profoundly differ from adults in significant areas such as decision making, cognitive capability, judgment, and overall development. The literature has also consistently shown that juvenile sex offenders are amenable to treatment, have considerably low recidivism rates, and are unlikely to offend into their adulthood. Despite this, and even though the juvenile justice system prioritizes rehabilitation over punitive measures, juvenile sex offenders are commonly subjected to …

American Epidemic: The Societal And Multi-Generational Impacts Caused By The Mass Incarceration Of Women In The United States, Jessica Younts

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the social impacts of incarcerating women, specifically mothers, as well as the far-reaching collateral consequences that the mass incarceration of women in the United States has on formerly incarcerated women’s successful reintegration back into society and analyzed how the harsh policies that exist detrimentally impact family members and society as a whole. This study revealed several themes that show the far reaching damage incarceration itself has on women and their families and provides a more comprehensive analysis of the incalculable costs of mass incarceration. By raising awareness to the long-term impact on society, this research can provide …

An Ecological Approach To Improving Reentry Programs For Justice-Involved African American Men, Precious Skinner-Osei, Peter Claudius Osei

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article is a re-analysis of a previous study (please see https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1402724). Considering the previous findings, in addition to the recent discussions around criminal justice reform, race, policing, and mental health in the United States, the data were reanalyzed using an updated version of QSR NVivo. The new findings revealed that reintegrating justice-involved African American men back into society requires reentry programs to utilize a different approach. Reentry programs must be constructed under the notion that the process involves multiple interrelated components that interact with larger systems outside the individual or organization's immediate control or organization advocating for them. …

Labor Redemption In Work Law, Andrew Elmore

Faculty Scholarship

People with criminal records must find and keep work to reintegrate into society. But private employers often categorically exclude candidates with criminal record histories, especially if the candidate is African American or Latinx. The conventional wisdom is that workplace laws offer little to address this problem. People with criminal records are not a protected class under Title VII, and many employers fear that hiring people with criminal records invites negligent hiring liability. Ban the Box privacy laws delay but may not deter overbroad criminal background checks

This Article challenges this standard account by shifting focus to the state in imposing …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Recidivism Among Ex-Offenders In Missouri, Norman James Vick

Dissertations

Ex-offenders return home to family and friends every day in the United States of America; seeking to reintegrate with family and society. Ex-offenders recidivate as well due to numerous reasons and fail at reintegration with family and society. The purpose of the investigation was to learn if substance abuse treatment and obtaining an education in the form of a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) would help the ex-offender avoid further recidivating The investigator was also interested in learning if trust played a vital role in gaining a GED and completion of substance abuse treatment with reintegration of the family for the …

The Effect Of Program Staffing Difficulties On Changes In Dynamic Risk And Reoffending Among Juvenile Offenders In Residential Placement, Kevin T. Wolff, Katherine E. Limoncelli, Michael T. Baglivio

Publications and Research

Recently there has been growing concern regarding the staffing challenges that plague the U.S. correctional system. This study examines whether staffing challenges within residential facilities are associated with changes in dynamic risk and the likelihood of reoffending among a sample of serious juvenile offenders returning to the community from residential placement. Using administrative data on 2,022 youth who completed a court-imposed placement, in combination with information drawn from a provider’s human resources database, we employ several analytical techniques to untangle the effects of staffing difficulties on youth outcomes. Results indicate that the rate of unscheduled absences was associated with changes …

The Power Of A Clean Slate, J.J. Prescott, Sonja B. Starr

Articles

Tens of millions of Americans have criminal records, including about 20 million with felony convictions. Conviction records automatically trigger countless collateral legal consequences, such as occupational restrictions that bar employers from hiring qualified candidates. Moreover, research overwhelmingly shows that bearing a criminal record raises significant barriers to employment, housing, and various other opportunities. These persistent obstacles can overwhelm an individual’s efforts at reintegration and can aggravate poverty, inequality, and racial disparities in our society. And because factors like unemployment and housing instability contribute to crime risk, these effects in turn make society less safe.

Reducing Recidivism: People On Parole And Probation, Noe George Gutierrez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Continuing criminal justice approaches have led to persistent recidivism among parolees and probationers. This study investigates the observed influence recidivism has on individuals on parole and probation. This research project aimed to shed more light on the attitudes of parolees and probationers and to provide more insight into recidivism and its contributing factors. Focus groups were held to provide the data for this research. Also a survey was distributed to 13 male and 4 female parolees and probationers over the age of 18 who were previously or currently on probation and/or parole. The emphasis was on participant perception and not …

Recidivist Sentencing And The Sixth Amendment, Benjamin E. Adams

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Reflective Writing In Prisons: Rehabilitation And The Power Of Stories And Connections, Sandeep Kumar

VA Engage Journal

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Even though the rate of crime is dropping, incarceration rates remain fairly steady. What’s more, recidivism (i.e., re-offending after conviction for other crimes) is also very high in the US. If offenders continue to offend, even after completing their sentences in a correctional system designed to address their underlying criminal activity, what is the point of having such a system? Can the system be made more accountable and better? Have we considered all the options for criminal reform? This article explores these questions using effective rehabilitation principles to …

Evidence Based Practices At A New York City Youth Justice Services Organization, Betsy Delissa Cespedes

Student Theses

There has been a national push to establish evidence-based juvenile criminal justice policies and practices that are focused on reducing the risk of recidivism for juvenile offenses. The reason for this push is rooted in the growing recidivism rates of juvenile offenders in the United States (Weber, Umpierre, & Bikchik, 2018). More than half of all juveniles who are on probation nationwide are rearrested, indicating that each juvenile offender faces equal likelihood of reoffending or not (Weber et al., 2018). Further, approximately 66% of juvenile offenders, or nearly seven out of 10 offenders, are rearrested within two years of their …

The Role And Impact Of Long-Term, Faith-Based Reentry Programs After Incarceration, Louie John Martinez, Rebecca Graf

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus of this exploratory study is on individuals who have completed long term, faith-based reentry programs after incarceration. Through one-on-one interviews with participants, this study will examine the impact that long-term, faith-based treatment programs have had in helping persons with a criminal past re-acclimate back into society. As more reentry programs focus on skills-based treatment only, this study seeks to explore the integration of faith and spirituality in long-term faith-based treatment programs in conjunction with other treatment modalities. This study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the critical elements necessary to help individuals overcome their past and collateral …

The Correlation Between County Expenditures And Ab109 Recidivism: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Maya Crim

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In response to a federal mandate, California passed Public Safety Realignment policies in 2011 to reduce its prison population. Popularly known as Assembly Bill 109 (AB109), these policies sought to reform the prison system on multiple fronts. One of these fronts is preventing recidivism among offenders. Most studies on recidivism look at individual factors or specific micro interventions. However, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between external factors and recidivism rates across 55 California counties. Using Spearman’s Correlation, this study tested the hypothesis that external factors such as county funding/expenditure, poverty level, and unemployment level monotonically …

Analyzing Service Barriers And Risk Factors For Reentry Among Formerly Incarcerated Adults, Agustina Alejandra Sepulveda

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Recidivism is a growing problem affecting formerly incarcerated adults struggling with reentry into society. After release, most individuals are dealing with barriers in their environment that affect their access to substance abuse and mental health treatment, which can be important to reducing recidivism. Thus, this study sought to understand the various service barriers and risk factors to reentry among formerly incarcerated individuals to help increase awareness of some of the challenges the reentry population is facing.

Self-administered surveys focusing on housing, employment, public assistance, and mental health barriers were collected among formerly incarcerated individuals from Southern California (n=103). Bivariate chi-square …

Veteran Treatment Court Clients’ Perceptions Of Procedural Justice And Recidivism, Cassandra A. Atkin-Plunk, Gaylene Armstrong, Nicky Dalbir

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Studies surrounding the effectiveness of veterans’ treatment courts (VTCs) are now emerging. Absent from this scholarship is an examination of the presence of procedural justice within VTCs and the influence of procedural justice on future criminal behavior of VTC clients. To begin this dialogue, this study surveys 41 clients enrolled in two VTCs in a Southern state. We explore client perceptions of procedurally just treatment by their judge and assigned supervision officer. Using an average follow-up time of 20 months, this study also examines the effects of perceptions of procedural justice on recidivism of court clients. Results find VTC clients …

Substance Use, Neurocognitive Deficits, And Criminal Recidivism, Emily H. Kim

Student Theses

Many offenders demonstrate substance use and neurocognitive impairments. Substance use directly impacts executive functioning due to poor impulse control, leading to impaired decision- making. Substance use and neurocognitive deficits also contribute to recidivism. Incarcerated individuals with substance use disorder have higher rates of recidivism, and executive dysfunction has been shown to contribute to recidivism due to low behavioral inhibition skills and deficiency with cognitive flexibility. There is a discontinuity in literature, however, since many studies only investigate either substance use or neurocognitive deficits to predict recidivism. However, it is important to examine the interaction of these factors to predict future …

Responding To Crossover Youth: A Look Beyond Recidivism Outcomes, Emily M. Wright, Ryan E. Spohn, Michael Campagna

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Crossover youth are involved in both child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The Crossover Youth Practice Model (CYPM) promotes collaboration between these systems to inform decision making between the two agencies and better serve these youth. Yet, few outcome evaluations of the CYPM exist, especially those that assess outcomes beyond recidivism, such as case dispositions, case closure, or placement or living situations. This study examined whether the CYPM (n = 210) decreased recidivism and increased system/case responses and positive outcomes among youth within 9–18 months after the youth’s initial arrest relative to a comparison group of crossover youth ( …

Forecasting Success: Using The Texas Risk Assessment System To Predict Early Discharge In A Large Sample Of High, Moderate, And Low Risk Offenders, Carley Rene Shelton

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Little is known regarding predictive factors that contribute to adults successfully completing felony probation—particularly those who are granted early release. The current study attempts to fill this gap by analyzing data from a large, urban, community supervision and corrections department to examine what predictive factors—as identified by the Texas Risk Assessment System (TRAS) impact successful early release from adult felony probation. Results from multivariate logistic regression models revealed that the TRAS domains of criminal history and education/employment were significant predictors of early dismissal from felony community supervision as was the total TRAS risk score. Additionally, being male and black significantly …

Evaluation Of A Jail Reentry Program., Bailey Elisabeth Holland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has focused on prison reentry programs and the impact the program has on reducing rates of recidivism, but there is a lack of research on jail reentry programs and the impact of programs’ individual services have on recidivism. Secondary data was obtained from the Louisville Metro Jail Familiar Faces Action and Community Transition (F2ACT) reentry program, which included basic demographic data of the participants, a record of individual services received by each participant, and the number of times each participant was booked into Louisville Metro Corrections before and after participating in F2ACT. A multinomial logistic regression found that …

Restorative Justice Practices: Addressing The Eleven Percent, Marshal Galvan Jr.

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper analyzes, assesses, and introduces the importance of a “Needs Assessment” that can potentially record the effectiveness of the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) practices with its youth offenders. VORP is a program within the purview of the Restorative Justice Partners, INC. organization. The functions of this program works closely with the probation department of Monterey County, along with various community partners; its practices are funneled through a restorative justice lens. Current data will show that 89% of youth offenders who have successfully completed the VORP program and are closed compliant do not reoffend, meanwhile the other 11% recidivates …

Understanding Violent-Crime Recidivism, J.J. Prescott, Benjamin Pyle, Sonja B. Starr

Articles

People convicted of violent crimes constitute a majority of the imprisoned population but are generally ignored by existing policies aimed at reducing mass incarceration. Serious efforts to shrink the large footprint of the prison system will need to recognize this fact. This point is especially pressing at the time of this writing, as states and the federal system consider large-scale prison releases motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those convicted of violent crimes constitute a large majority of older prisoners, who are extremely vulnerable to the spread of the virus behind bars. Excluding them from protective measures will deeply undermine those …

Reimagining Reentry: A Vision For Transformative Justice Beyond The Carceral State, Kemiya Nutter

Ethnic Studies Senior Capstone Papers

Throughout the past decade, mass incarceration has emerged as a buzzword within academic scholarship and public policy discourse that seeks to examine the unparalleled expansion of the contemporary carceral state. With 2.2 million Americans imprisoned and over 7 million under various forms of penal control, the United States maintains the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The unprecedented inflation in the nation’s incarceration rate is a direct manifestation of the 1970’s War on Drugs, which enabled the legislative transformations that permeate modern sentencing policy and procedure. Institutions of policing, surveillance, and incarceration are constitutive features of the carceral system’s …

The Revolving Door Of Recidivism, Laura E. Bull

Classical Conversations

With the rise in the use of prisons, recidivism also grew. Recidivism, in the broadest sense, is the act of a past offender coming back into contact with the justice system. Prisons have been used as far back as the fourth century, but over time their purpose has changed. Today in the United States, the main purpose of prisons is rehabilitation. The most recent law, the First Steps Act, reflects the desire to reduce the trend of recidivism. Many programs have been used as a method of reducing recidivism. Recidivism is a cycle of pain, creating jaded prisoners and placing …

Prosecuting Human Trafficking In The Wake Of Epstein: A Proposal For The Implementation Of Aggravated Human Trafficking Statutes, Katherine F. Erickson, Lynette A. Dalley

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

In June of 2008, Jeffrey Epstein plead guilty in a Florida court on

two counts of felony prostitution for nonconsensual sex acts against

two girls under eighteen. Evidence showed, however, that the true

scope of his crime encompassed dozens of underage girls. He

was sentenced to eighteen months in jail but ended up only serving

thirteen. Because of the terms of his prison sentence, Epstein

was allowed to leave the jail during the day for work release.

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Recidivism, Gender, And Race: An Analysis Of The Los Angeles County Probation Department’S Risk And Needs Assessment Instruments, Robert V. Howard

Masters Theses

This study assesses the predictive validity of an adult risk need assessment, the Los Angeles Probation Department’s Risk and Needs Assessment Instruments, on 793 clients using several logistic regression models. Models were generated to look for a relationship between risk score and recidivism. This relationship is further explored across gender and race. There are two separate risk assessment instruments used in this study and the sample is separated into two separate groups. The first risk assessment instrument was based on static risk factors such as history of drug or alcohol use, age of first conviction, and conviction history. This assessment …