Juvenile Behavior

Criminal behavior and recidivism has been a very contentious issue over the last decade. Research continues to garner massive support related to methods to better help offenders matriculate into society. Juvenile behavior is one of the more pressing issues within society. Juvenile behavior is particularly important as habits formed in early years are directly correlated to behavior in later years. Research has also indicated that children or juveniles influenced by criminal activities at an early age, are more likely to commit crimes in their adolescent stage.

Although a litany of methods have been devised to combat juvenile criminal behavior, results have been mixed. Recent incidents with school shootings, robberies, and vandalism indicate that juvenile criminal behavior is still profound. One interesting aspect regarding juvenile behavior is that violent acts committed by juveniles have actually decreased over the past decade. However, many juveniles are often sent to court and prosecuted as adults. This action ultimately creates a cycle in which juveniles serve longer prison or jail sentences.

The questions arise then, with increased numbers of juveniles being sent to out-of-home placements: How long are juveniles placed in residential facilities and what impact does long-term incapacitation or placement have on subsequent recidivism? Unfortunately, the findings are inconclusive. An association between length of prison terms and recidivism has not been found. Some studies have found that long stays combined intervention methods helped to dramatically reduce repeat offenses. These studies found that a combination of proper training supplemented with jail time help to better provide offenders with better skills.

These skills ultimately allowed these individuals to more easily matriculate into society. Offenders that have adequate job training and opportunities for employment are often less likely to repeat as offenders. Still other studies have found that the mean number of treatment hours and negatively correlated with effectiveness. However, as indicated by research, 41% of youths released from commitment programs committed an offense within 1 year of release. Those with stays from 3 to 6 months realized an increased recidivism of 56% (Bazemore, 1997).

Studies have identified and characterized juveniles in tiers based on severity of the offence. For example, juveniles are divided into four security levels, which are: low-risk, moderate-risk, high-risk, and maximum-risk. Placement in each risk category is determined by the danger presented to public safety for each juvenile's offense. Maximum-risk youth for example present the greatest danger to society and therefore warrant close supervision with a maximum-security facility. Contradicting the above research results, offenders divided into these tiers exhibited various levels of recidivism.

Black male offenders from southern Florida, for instance, had a 27% probability of future adjudication or conviction if treated at high-risk facilities for one month. This probability nearly doubled to 48% if the length of stay reached twenty-six months (Sickmund, 2004) Explanations for these varied results take into account the actual timing of intervention. Many experts believe that youths who responded positively to the intervention were subsequently release quickly.

Those individuals who were in commitment programs for 13 months or longer were less likely to be repeat offenders than those who stayed 12 months or less. These individuals were able to better matriculate into society due to the intervention presented to them. Those who did not accept the intervention, were subsequently repeat offenders. Still other experts site the overall quality of the intervention as an explanation as to increased rate of recidivism among maximum-risk offenders. These experts believe that the overall quality and expectations for these.