PSYC 3402: Young Offenders

Contents

1. 1. History of Juvenile Justice
   1. 1.1 Youth Crime Rates and Sentencing
2. 2. Juvenile Offending Trajectories
   1. 2.1 Theories of Juvenile Crime
3. 3. Risk and Protective Factors
   1. 3.1 Intervention Strategies for Young Offenders
   2. 3.2 Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

1. History of Juvenile Justice

• Prior to 19th century: little distinction between youths and adults when it came to charging, sentencing and incarceration.
• Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) – 1908: kids between 7 and 16 could attend separate, informal courts (where parents were encouraged to take part) – those who committed serious crimes could be transferred to adult courts.
• Criticisms: information of courts denied youths certain rights (such as legal representation); judges could impose open sentences and “delinquency” included acts that weren’t illegal for adults (such as truancy).
• Young Offenders Act (YOA) – 1984: recognized juveniles (now 12 to 18) as cognitively different than adults (and changed sanctions and accountability to be in line with this); also implemented Youth Diversion – where if they plead guilty, they could take part in an educational or community program.
• Criticisms: youths could plead guilty to avoid the transfer to adult court – though this was eventually changed to make sure serious crimes were tried and sentenced accordingly; overuse of incarceration.
• Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) – 2003: primary intention is to keep juveniles out of court and out of custody by first encouraging police to use extrajudicial measures (ex: warnings or referrals for treatments); there are 3 major goals:
  1. To prevent youth crime;
  2. To provide meaningful consequences and encourage responsibility of behaviour; and
  3. To improve rehabilitation and reintegration of youth into the community.

Charged youths can no longer be sentenced in adult courts but they can be given adult sentences (so long as the Crown is okay with it and they are at least 14); judges are also able to use expanded sentences (ex: rehab. custody, reprimands, supervision orders); and victims are allowed to participate in the court proceedings. (Department of Justice or Wikipedia)

1.1 Youth Crime Rates and Sentencing

Though we see a general trend downwards from the time the YCJA was implemented, we have to acknowledge that other factors might influence this (ex: differences in reporting strategies).

YCJA seeks to keep young offenders out of the court system – less guilty offenders are receiving custodial sentences (27% down to 17%); 7% of total cases used new sentencing options (expanded sentences) under the YCJA.

2. Juvenile Offending Trajectories

There are two types of juvenile offenders:

1. Child onset, life-course persistent: not as common (3-5% of gen. pop.); behavioural problems begin in early childhood (ex: as babies, they are difficult to soothe) and they show more persistent antisocial behaviour later in life.
   (Oppositional defiant disorder)
2. Adolescent onset, adolescent limited: more common (approximately 70% of gen. pop.); behavioural problems begin in teen years (ex: truancy, theft) but they are few and limited; they generally stop committing crime early in adulthood (though a few persist).

2.1 Theories of Juvenile Crime

Biological Theories: there are a number of biological and genetic differences between offenders and non-offenders; here are some examples:

• Children with antisocial biological fathers are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour (regardless of whether or not they were raised with the biological father);
• Antisocial children have slower heart rates (maybe that gives them a higher threshold for excitability and emotionality); and
• Antisocial youths may have less front lobe inhibition, so impulsivity is increased.

Cognitive Theories: cognitive deficits and distortions that occur in social interactions may explain antisocial behaviour; here are some examples:

• Antisocial youths tend to misinterpret ambiguous situations as hostile;
• Children with conduct disorder who have limited problem-solving skills come up with fewer solutions to problems and their solutions are more likely to be more aggressive.

Social Theories: Bandura’s social learning theory suggests that children learn antisocial behaviour through observational learning, especially when they see the behaviour positively reinforced; and violence in the media plays an important role.

3. Risk and Protective Factors

Risk Factors: these are the criminogenic risk factors mentioned in the Risk Assessment lecture; they can be from the following areas...

• Individual: substance abuse (especially from an early age), prenatal and delivery complications, and low verbal intelligence and delayed language development.
• Familial: poor parental supervision, low parent involvement, parental conflict and aggression, and child abuse, neglect and maltreatment.
• School: poor academic performance (especially in elementary school), low commitment to school and low educational aspirations.
• Peer: associating with antisocial peers, engaging in delinquent behaviour and receiving peer approval for delinquent behaviour.
• Community: witnessing violence and access to weapons.

Protective Factors: these are factors that reduce offending in children by: reducing negative outcomes by changing the level of exposure to risk factors; changing the negative chain reaction following exposure to risk; helping develop and maintain self-esteem and self-efficacy; and provide opportunities to children they may not other have. Here are some examples...

• Individual: intelligence, social skills, values and beliefs, intolerant attitude towards antisocial behaviour and being female.
• Familial: support parents, parental supervision, and secure parent-child attachment.
• School: commitment to education and extracurricular activities.
• Peer: associating with prosocial peers.

There are gender differences for both categories of factors; for example, males tend to be more exposed to risk factors and less to protective factors.

3.1 Intervention Strategies for Young Offenders

Intervention strategies can occur at three levels:

1. Primary Intervention - proactive: implemented prior to any violence occurring, with the goal of decreasing the likelihood that violence will occur later on (best approach).
   The goal is to identify groups of children that have numerous risk factors and intervene with these kids to prevent antisocial behaviour; they are targeting all children.
1. Family-oriented strategies: Parent-focussed programs that assist parents in recognizing warning signs for juvenile violence and/or training them to manage behavioural problems.
   • Criticisms: short-term success; parents don’t think they need to be there so these aren’t normally stand-alone programs.
2. School-Oriented Strategies: can include Project Head Start, social skills training for kids, and broad based school interventions designed to change the school environment (ex: Scared Straight).
3. Community-Wide Strategies: these are structured community activities design to increase children’s participation and community cohesion (ex: Outreach Projects).
2. Secondary Intervention: implemented once the violence happens and attempts to reduce the frequency/severity of violence.
   The goal is to provide juveniles who have had contact with the CJS or who have exhibited behavioural problems in school, with social and clinical services so that their behaviour does not escalate.
1. Diversion Programs: (popular) these programs divert young offenders from the JS and into school-based treatment programs (Criticism: may cause more harm than good).
2. Multi-systemic Therapy: (popular) these programs examine children across different contexts in which they live and target them specifically (targets: family communication, parent management, cognitive-behavioural issues)
3. Tertiary Intervention – reactive: attempts to prevent violence from reoccurring.
   The goal is to target juveniles who have already engaged in criminal behaviour and minimize the impact of existing risk factors and foster the development of protective factors (so we can reduce the chance of re-offending). The strategies in this category target treatment rather than prevention.
1. Examples include inpatient treatment and community-based treatments where the approach can be retributive or rehabilitative (ex: boot camps).

3.2 Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

Interventions with children often focus on emotional and behavioural difficulties; these can be divided into two categories:

1. Internalizing Problems:
• Examples: emotional difficulties that people suffer from (such as anxiety, depression, obsessions).
• Interventions: these are not usually the target in interventions designed to manage antisocial behaviour.
• Treatment: they are reasonably treatable but aren’t particularly predictive of antisocial behaviour.
2. Externalizing Problems: (more focus)
• Examples: behavioural problems such as lying, bullying, fighting (destructive behaviours); more of a problem for males.
• Interventions: these are targeted in interventions to reduce antisocial behaviour
• Treatment: fairly difficult to treat; these types of behaviour can develop into more persistent and serious antisocial acts (they are stable) and they need to be viewed from a developmental context.