Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to examine the relation between different types of child abuse victimization and criminal recidivism among juvenile offenders.MethodSecondary analyses were conducted on data collected with the Washington State Juvenile Court Assessment and general recidivism. The sample consisted of female (n = 3502) and male (n = 10,111) juvenile offenders.ResultsFor male juvenile offenders, neglect and physical abuse victimization were significantly but rather weakly associated with both general and violent recidivism. For female juvenile offenders, neglect and physical abuse were weakly associated with general recidivism, but not with violent recidivism. Sexual abuse was not related to either general or violent recidivism in both male and female juvenile offenders. Most associations between dynamic (treatable) risk domains and recidivism were stronger in male juvenile offenders than in female juvenile offenders. In addition, most risk domains were more strongly related to general recidivism than to violent felony recidivism. For male juvenile offenders, neglect victimization was uniquely related to general recidivism whereas physical abuse victimization was uniquely related to violent recidivism, over and above dynamic risk factors for recidivism. For female juvenile offenders none of the maltreatment variables were uniquely related to general or violent felony recidivism.ConclusionsChildhood experiences of neglect and physical abuse predict reoffending in male juvenile offenders, pointing at a possible need to address these in risk management interventions.
Highlights
This study aimed to examine the relation between different types of child abuse victimization and criminal recidivism among juvenile offenders
Dembo and colleagues [11] examined the relation between specific types of child maltreatment victimization and recidivism and found that recidivism was more strongly predicted by neglect than by both physical and sexual abuse
General recidivism and violent felony recidivism were both higher in male juvenile offenders than in female juvenile offenders
Summary
This study aimed to examine the relation between different types of child abuse victimization and criminal recidivism among juvenile offenders. Many studies have focused on the association between child maltreatment and later delinquent behavior (e.g., [1,2,3,4,5,6]), only few studies have examined the relation between child maltreatment and criminal recidivism among delinquent populations. Because many of the problems youth face as a consequence of child maltreatment put them at increased risk of becoming delinquent, Child maltreatment involves a wide range of harmful behaviors directed towards children (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect), which may have different effects on criminal recidivism. Dembo and colleagues [11] examined the relation between specific types of child maltreatment victimization and recidivism and found that recidivism was more strongly predicted by neglect than by both physical and sexual abuse. The study showed that only ongoing neglect during adolescent was significantly related to recidivism after controlling for a wide range of family, peer, academic, mental health, and substance abuse covariates [13]
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