Juvenile Community Corrections Corrections in Community-Based Settings

Community-based corrections: Factors to consider when dealing with juvenile offenders

One seemingly self-evident truth regarding juvenile offenders might seem to be that socio-economic status will have a significant impact upon the individual's ability to find adequate treatment. The research does support the idea that individuals of higher socioeconomic status (SES) are less likely commit juvenile crimes. Also, it would seem that a wealthy, well-connected suburban family who is able to offer private counseling to their child is more likely to see the teen transition out of juvenile corrections than one who does not. An overall literature review suggests that lower SES is linked with the likelihood of perpetuating juvenile crimes. In another study of 420 urban youth comparing those from high SES neighborhoods vs. low SES neighborhoods, the high SES youth were half as likely to engage in serious delinquency (Atkins et al. 2007).

However, one longitudinal study of 531 youths in Oregon's juvenile justice system which characterized the participants as being of low or high socioeconomic status found no statistically significant difference between low and high SES youths in terms of recidivism. However, it did find that receiving community support services was associated with lower rates of recidivism for high SES but not low SES youths. Only 40% of the individuals in the survey...

2007).
Atkins (et al. 2007) notes that the fact that offenders of high SES seemed to benefit more from social service programs should not necessarily be a surprise. The findings from the admittedly small study suggest that low SES background youth may need additional types of services if they are to benefit from community interventions. Current intervention programs seem better suited to the profiles of high SES delinquents, whose delinquency may be more due to personal mental health issues, substance abuse, and single-incident rebellions than being mired in the chronic conditions of poverty, as is the case of low SES youth.

Additional advantages associated with community-based services for high SES youth is they are not returning to communities where there are limited opportunities other than the life of crime. Juveniles from low SES backgrounds may have parents who have less flexibility in terms of how they alter the environments in which their children live -- the same conditions of drugs and poverty remain unchanged when the juveniles reenter their home environments. For some juveniles, it is not self-evident that there are other ways to make a living than selling drugs and providing vocational services may be necessary as part of a rehabilitative program, versus juveniles from higher SES (Mincey et al. 2008: 11). One small, qualitative study of nine young adults between the ages of 18 to 23…