Institutional Pathways: Characteristics and Correlates of System Service Use By Serious Adolescent Offenders

Introduction: We lack a systematic understanding of whether and how sanctions and interventions facilitate a process of desistance (Mulvey et al., 2004; Mulvey & Schubert, 2012). In this study, we describe characteristics of system service use among serious adolescent offenders, identify individual, family, and community correlates of system service use, and identify associations between system service use and adult engagement in criminal behaviors.

Methods: This project uses Pathways to Desistance data, which focuses on understanding how serious adolescent offenders desist from antisocial activity. Baseline data was collected in 2000-2003 for 1354 youth (654 in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona, and 700 in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania) who were between 14 and 18 years of age who had committed an offense and was found guilty. Youth were followed for 7 years, when participants were 21-25 years old. We use logistic and multinomial regression models to examine associations between service context (residential vs. community) and orientation of services (individual, group, or family) and both contemporaneous characteristics and adult engagement in any and aggressive criminal behaviors.

Results: At baseline, more than two-thirds (68.5%) received residential services. While 32.9% of adolescent offenders received individual services, only 15.4% received group and 12.7% received in-home or family services. Males, youth who ever expelled from school, had parents who argued or were from socially disorganized neighborhoods were more likely to receive residential services rather than receive no services.  Characteristics correlated with individual, group, and family services included gender, race, expulsion from school, parental relationships, and neighborhood social disorder. Some service orientation types (e.g., individual, group, or family services) were marginally associated with a higher likelihood of any and aggressive offending while residential services were associated with a higher likelihood of any self-reported offending seven years later.

Discussion: These findings suggest that service decisions disproportionately impact certain subgroups defined by factors external to the individual’s control. In turn, service orientation and context are related to a higher likelihood of any and aggressive offending. Future research should continue to systematically identify patterns of service use and effectiveness among serious adolescent offenders.