Beyond Recidivism: Investigating Comparative Educational and Employment Outcomes for Adolescents in the Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems

Abstract

While the relationship between juvenile transfer and recidivism has received much scholarly attention, the effect of transfer on other outcomes has largely been ignored. This study examined the effect of transfer on 7-year educational and employment outcomes, with time in the community and perceived stigma as hypothesized mediators. Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed with propensity score matching and mediation analysis. Transfer to criminal court strongly predicts lower employment outcomes, fully mediated by diminished time in the community. Transfer also marginally predicts higher educational outcomes. Education results call for further research, and employment results suggest that transfer policies should be revisited.

Keywords

juvenile justice rehabilitation recidivism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akers

R. L.

Krohn

M. D.

Lanza-Kaduce

Radoscevich

(1979). Social learning and deviant behavior: A specific test of a general theory. American Sociological Review, 44, 636-655.

Austin

P. C.

(2010). Statistical criteria for selecting the optimal number of untreated subjects matched to each treated subject when using many-to-one matching on the propensity score. American Journal of Epidemiology, 172, 1092-1097.

Baron

R. M.

Kenny

D. A.

(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.

Bernburg

J. G.

Krohn

M. D.

(2003). Labeling, life chances, and adult crime: The direct and indirect effects of official intervention in adolescence on crime in early adulthood. Criminology, 41, 1287-1318.

Bishop

D. M.

(2000). Juvenile offenders in the adult criminal justice system. Crime & Justice: A Review of Research, 27, 81-168.

Bishop

D. M.

Frazier

C. E.

Lanza-Kaduce

Winner

(1996). The transfer of juveniles to criminal court: Does it make a difference? Crime & Delinquency, 42, 171-191.

Chauhan

Reppucci

N. D.

(2009). The impact of neighborhood disadvantage and exposure to violence on self-report of antisocial behavior among girls in the juvenile justice system. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 401-416.

Clausen

J. A.

(1995). Gender, contexts, and turning points in adults’ lives. In Moen

Elder

G. H.

Jr. Lüscher

(Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 365-389). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

DiIulio

J. J.

Jr. (1995, November 27). The coming of the super-predators. The Weekly Standard, 1(11), 23.

10.

Duncan

Holder

E. H.

Jr. (2014, December 8). Letter to chief state school officers and state attorneys general. Washington, DC: United States Department of Education and United States Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/correctional-education/csso-state-attorneys-general-letter.pdf

11.

Elder

G. H.

Jr. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4-15.

12.

Fagan

(1996). The comparative advantage of juvenile versus criminal court sanctions on recidivism among adolescent felony offenders. Law & Policy, 18, 77-114.

13.

Fagan

Kupchik

Liberman

(2007). Be careful what you wish for: Legal sanctions and public safety among adolescent offenders in juvenile and criminal court (Public Law Research Paper no. 03-61). New York, NY: Columbia Law School

14.

Feld

B. C.

(1999). A funny thing happened on the way to the centenary: Social structure, race, and the transformation of the juvenile court. Punishment & Society, 1, 187-214.

15.

Goffman

(1986). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York, NY: Touchstone.

16.

Harding

D. J.

(2003). Counterfactual models of neighborhood effects: The effect of neighborhood poverty on dropping out and teenage pregnancy. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 676-719.

17.

Harvey

(2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

18.

Haug

M. R.

Sussman

M. B.

(1971). The indiscriminate state of social class measurement. Social Forces, 49, 549-563.

19.

Henning

(2004). Eroding confidentiality in delinquency proceedings: Should schools and public housing authorities be notified? New York University Law Review, 79, 520-611.

20.

Jensen

E. J.

Metsger

L. K.

(1994). A test of the deterrent effect of legislative waiver on violent juvenile crime. Crime & Delinquency, 40, 96-104.

21.

Jordan

K. L.

(2012). Juvenile transfer and recidivism: A propensity score matching approach. Journal of Crime and Justice, 35, 53-67.

22.

Jordan

K. L.

Myers

D. L.

(2011). Juvenile transfer and deterrence: Re-examining the effectiveness of a “get tough” policy. Crime & Delinquency, 57, 247-270.

23.

Juvenile Law Center. (2016). What the “Every Student Succeeds Act” means for youth in and returning from the juvenile justice system. Philadelphia, PA: Retrieved from http://www.jlc.org/sites/default/files/ESSAJJ_Factsheet_FinalWebinarVersion_Jan262016.pdf

24.

Kirk

D. S.

Sampson

R. J.

(2013). Juvenile arrest and collateral educational damage in the transition to adulthood. Sociology of Education, 88(1), 36-62.

25.

Kupchik

(2006). The decision to incarcerate in juvenile and criminal courts. Criminal Justice Review, 31, 309-336.

26.

Lanza-Kaduce

Lane

Bishop

D. M.

Frazier

C. E.

(2005). Juvenile offenders and adult felony recidivism: The impact of transfer. Journal of Crime and Justice, 28, 59-77.

27.

Laub

J. H.

Sampson

R. J.

(1993). Turning points in the life course: Why change matters to the study of crime. Criminology, 31, 301-325.

28.

Leuven

Sianesi

(2014). PSMATCH2: Stata module to perform full Mahalanobis and propensity score matching, common support graphing, and covariate imbalance testing (version 4.0.11). Retrieved from http://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s432001.html (Original work released 2003).

29.

Levitt

S. D.

(1998). Juvenile crime and punishment. Journal of Political Economy, 106, 1156-1185.

30.

Lockwood

Nally

J. M.

Knutson

(2012). The effect of correctional education on postrelease employment and recidivism: A 5-year follow-up study in the State of Indiana. Crime & Delinquency, 58, 380-396.

31.

Loughran

T. A.

Mulvey

E. P.

Schubert

C. A.

Chassin

L. A.

Steinberg

Piquero

A. R.

. . . Losoya

(2010). Differential effects of adult court transfer on juvenile offender recidivism. Law & Human Behavior, 34, 476-488.

32.

Mulvey

E. P.

(2013). Research on pathways to desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Subject measures, 2000-2010 (ICPSR29961-v2). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. doi:10.3886/ICPSR29961.v2

33.

Mulvey

E. P.

(2014a). Research on pathways to desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Calendar data, 2000-2010 [Restricted] (ICPSR32282-v2). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. doi:10.3886/ICPSR32282.v2

34.

Mulvey

E. P.

(2014b). Research on Pathways to Desistance [Maricopa County, AZ and Philadelphia County, PA]: Official Arrest Records, 2000-2010 [Restricted] (ICPSR34605-v2). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. doi:10.3886/ICPSR34605.v2

35.

Myers

(2001). Excluding violent youths from juvenile court: The effectiveness of legislative waiver. New York, NY: LFB Scholarly Publishing.

36.

Myers

(2003). The recidivism of violent youths in juvenile and adult court: A consideration of selection bias. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 1, 79-101.

37.

Newman

Wagner

Knokey

A.-M.

Marder

Nagle

Shaver

Wei

(2011). The post-high school outcomes of young adults with disabilities up to 8 years after high school. A report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) (NCSER 2011-3005). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Retrieved from http://www.ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20113005/pdf/20113005.pdf

38.

Pager

(2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 937-975.

39.

Pattanayak

C. W.

(2015). Evaluating covariate balance. In Pan

Bai

(Eds.), Propensity score analysis: Fundamentals and developments (pp. 89-112). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

40.

Pettit

Lyons

C. J.

(2009). Incarceration and the legitimate labor market: Examining age-graded effects on employment and wages. Law & Society Review, 43, 725-756.

41.

Pettit

Western

(2004). Mass imprisonment and the life course: Race and class inequality in U.S. incarceration. American Sociological Review. American Sociological Review, 69, 151-169.

42.

Piquero

A. R.

Blumstein

Brame

Haapanen

Mulvey

E. P.

Nagin

D. S.

(2001). Assessing the impact of exposure time and incapacitation on longitudinal trajectories of criminal offending. Journal of Adolescent Research, 16, 54-74.

43.

Podkopacz

M. R.

Feld

B. C.

(1996). The end of the line: An empirical study of judicial waiver. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86, 449-492.

44.

Rios

V. M.

(2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York: New York University Press.

45.

Risler

E. A.

Sweatman

Nackerud

(1998). Evaluating the Georgia legislative waiver’s effectiveness in deterring juvenile crime. Research on Social Work Practice, 8, 657-667.

46.

Rosenbaum

P. R.

Rubin

D. B.

(1983). The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika, 70, 41-55.

47.

Rosenbaum

P. R.

Rubin

D. B.

(1985). Constructing a control group using multivariate matched sampling methods that incorporate the propensity score. American Statistician, 39, 33-38.

48.

Rudman

Hartstone

Fagan

Moore

(1986). Violent youth in adult court: Process and punishment. Crime & Delinquency, 32, 75-96.

49.

Schubert

C. A.

Mulvey

Loughran

T. A.

Fagan

Chassin

L. A.

Piquero

A. R.

. . . Cauffman

(2010). Predicting outcomes for youth transferred to adult court. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 460-475.

50.

Schubert

C. A.

Mulvey

E. P.

Steinberg

Cauffman

Losoya

S. H.

Hecker

. . . Knight

G. P.

(2004). Operational lessons from the pathways to desistance project. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 237-255.

51.

Scott

E. A.

Steinberg

(2008). Rethinking juvenile justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

52.

Sedlak

A. J.

McPherson

K. S.

(2010). Youth’s needs and services: Findings from the survey of youth in residential placement (Juvenile Justice Bulletin). Retrieved from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227728.pdf

53.

Shah

R. S.

Fine

Gullen

(2014). Juvenile records: A national review of state laws on confidentiality, sealing and expungement. Philadelphia, PA: Juvenile Law Center and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Retrieved from http://juvenilerecords.jlc.org/juvenilerecords/documents/publications/national-review.pdf

54.

Singer

S. I.

McDowall

(1988). Criminalizing delinquency: The deterrent effects of the New York juvenile offender law. Law & Society Review, 22, 521-535.

55.

Soler

Shoenberg

Schindler

(2009). Juvenile justice: Lessons for a new era. Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy, 16(Symposium Issue), 483-541.

56.

Sweeten

(2006). Who will graduate? Disruption of high school education by arrest and court involvement. Justice Quarterly, 23, 462-480.

57.

Tankersley

V. L.

(2006). A qualitative examination of risk factors influencing female adolescent delinquency in Dallas County, Texas (Doctoral dissertation, accession number 200708255). Retrieved from University of Texas at Arlington Research Commons Library.

58.

Taylor

(2015). Juvenile transfers to adult court: An examination of the long-term outcomes of transferred and non-transferred juveniles. Juvenile & Family Court Journal, 66, 29-47.

59.

Thompson

K. C.

Morris

R. J.

(2016). Juvenile delinquency and disability. New York, NY: Springer.

60.

Uggen

Vuolo

Lageson

Ruhland

Whitman

H. K.

(2014). The edge of stigma: An experimental audit of the effects of low-level criminal records on employment. Criminology, 52, 627-654.

61.

van der Noordt

IJzelenberg

Droomers

Proper

K. I

. (2014). Health effects of employment: A systematic review of prospective studies. Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 71, 730-736.

62.

von Hippel

P. T

. (2007). Regression with missing Ys: An improved strategy for analyzing multiply imputed data. Sociological Methodology, 37(1), 83-117.

63.

Wacquant

(2009). Prisons of poverty (Expanded ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

64.

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (2nd ed.). (2001). New York, NY: Random House Reference.

65.

Western

(2002). The impact of incarceration on wage mobility and inequality. American Sociological Review, 67, 526-546.

66.

Western

Kling

J. R.

Weiman

D. F.

(2001). The labor market consequences of incarceration. Crime and Delinquency, 47, 410-427.

67.

Winner

Lanza-Kaduce

Bishop

D. M.

Frazier

C. E.

(1997). The transfer of juveniles to criminal court: Reexamining recidivism over the long term. Crime & Delinquency, 43, 548-563.

68.

Wolfe

B. L.

Haverman

R. H.

(2003). Social and nonmarket benefits from education in an advanced economy. In Kodrzycki

(Ed.), Education in the 21st century: Meeting the challenges of a changing world (pp. 97-131). Boston, MA: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

69.

Zhao

Lynch

J. G.

Jr. Chen

(2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 197-206.