Understanding Recidivism: Comparing Juvenile-Only Offenders and Persistent Offenders

Abstract

In the recidivism literature, scholars have consistently shown strong continuity in offending from adolescence to adulthood with nearly half of all juvenile offenders continuing criminal engagement beyond age 18 (Le Blanc & Frechette, 1989; Loeber & Farrington, 2011). The motivation to understand criminal recidivism is not only fueled by research priorities, but also by policymakers and criminologists who pursue reform within the American justice system. In this paper, historical approaches to crime, research on criminal career patterns, theoretical explanations for recidivism, and prevention and intervention programs are reviewed. The study examined a number of recidivism factors to determine which variables best predict the likelihood that an individual is a persistent offender. Participants in the juvenile-only offender sample had significantly higher current family satisfaction and perceived social support scores, and significantly lower current criminal thinking scores than participants in the persistent offender sample. Logistic regression models revealed that current family satisfaction made a significant contribution to offender type prediction such that when current family satisfaction is raised by one unit, individuals become .98 times less likely to be a persistent offender. Support and positive relationships with are well supported in the literature as important, noteworthy components to leading crime-free lives and should be emphasized in prevention and intervention efforts to reduce recidivism rates.