Abstract
BackgroundResearch has established a strong relationship between education and later life outcomes, where the connection between different school problems and delinquency have been widely acknowledged. These studies have often sampled male juvenile offenders exhibiting extensive and/or persistent delinquency. Less is known about the educational attainment of female juvenile offenders, especially those who display limited delinquency. In a previous study (Azad and Ginner Hau in Child Youth Serv Rev 95:384–396, 2018), the characteristics of this particular group of offenders were explored where the results showed limited self-reported delinquency but elevated school problems.ObjectiveThe present aim was to conduct a follow-up study of the same sample of female adolescents, in order to study their educational attainment during adolescence and the rate of recidivism within 24 months after being sentenced through registry data.MethodThe sample consisted of adolescent females (N = 144) who were convicted of a crime and sentenced to youth service between 2007 and 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden.ResultsThe results showed that the majority of the females did not reoffend within 2 years after being sentenced. They did, however, display high educational deficits. Their grade point average at the end of both compulsory education and upper secondary school was much lower than that of young females in general, and the majority had either dropped out, never begun or received zero in all subjects at the end of upper secondary school.ConclusionsThe low school results indicate a need to support young delinquent females’ educational attainment in order to improve their overall life chances.
Highlights
The associations between adolescents’ academic achievement and later life outcomes are well documented, with, for example, the connection between education and delinquency having been widely acknowledged (e.g., Gottfredson 2001; Hirschfield 2017)
In a previous study (Azad and Ginner Hau 2018), we explored the characteristics of this particular group of female offenders
The results showed, in line with our hypotheses, that the females displayed limited delinquency, in that the majority did not reoffend within two years after being sentenced to youth service
Summary
The associations between adolescents’ academic achievement and later life outcomes are well documented, with, for example, the connection between education and delinquency having been widely acknowledged (e.g., Gottfredson 2001; Hirschfield 2017). The area where they reported the highest level of problems concerned school, which contrasted with the reference group and was more in line with the reporting of young females in residential care Based on these results, together with previous research showing a strong relation between education and later life outcomes, the aim of the present study is to follow up on these findings with other measures, i.e., official data. Research has established a strong relationship between education and later life outcomes, where the connection between different school problems and delinquency have been widely acknowledged These studies have often sampled male juvenile offenders exhibiting extensive and/or persistent delinquency. In a previous study (Azad and Ginner Hau in Child Youth Serv Rev 95:384–396, 2018), the characteristics of this particular group of offenders were explored where the results showed limited self-reported delinquency but elevated school problems. Conclusions The low school results indicate a need to support young delinquent females’ educational attainment in order to improve their overall life chances
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