Is a Minimum Age Necessary? An Examination of the Association Between Justice System Contact in Childhood and Negative Outcomes in Adolescence

Abstract

Though policy makers in several states have recently proposed establishing a minimum age of juvenile court jurisdiction to reduce justice system involvement for younger children, research examining the effects of justice system contact in childhood on subsequent outcomes is limited. The current study aimed to examine the association between justice system contact in childhood and negative outcomes in adolescence, including self-reported arrest, self-reported delinquency, and self-reported high school dropout. This study used data from the LONGSCAN consortium and genetic matching to match a sample of 47 youth reporting justice system contact by age 12 with 47 control youth matched on 17 theoretically informed covariates. Matching results indicated justice system contact by age 12 was associated with a proportional increase in arrest between the ages of 15 and 16 of .43, a proportional increase in arrest between the ages of 17 and 18 of .47, and a proportional increase in experiencing three or more arrests by age 18 of .28. Further, justice system contact in childhood was associated with a proportional increase in dropout of .30. Significant differences in self-reported delinquency were not found. Sensitivity analyses indicated these findings were robust to omitted covariate bias. According to results, justice system contact in childhood contributes to negative outcomes for child delinquents. Findings suggest policies establishing a minimum age for juvenile court jurisdiction and restricting justice system contact for children may reduce negative outcomes for youth with an early-onset of delinquent behavior.