Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders: Changes in Risk and Protective Factors During Their Delinquent Careers

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

One consistent finding in the developmental criminology literature is that early age of onset of anti-social behavior leads to an escalation of offense seriousness and longer juvenile offending careers. This research has also found that serious and violent juveniles are distinct from other offender groups and have an array of personal, behavioral, school-related, and mental health problems that change over time. These relationships have emerged from longitudinal studies using a combination of self-report and official records data. While they have led to a wealth of valuable information, they are methodologically and economically difficult to sustain and replicate. An alternative method is to use risk assessment data collected at different points in juvenile delinquents’ offending careers. We use this method to extend our prior research on Snyder’s Chronic, Serious, and Violent (CSV) juvenile offender career types by exploring changes in assessment risk and protective factors of SVC offenders’ first assessment at the beginning of their juvenile offending careers to their last assessment at the time they aged out of the juvenile justice system.

Authors

• Stephen Cox, Central Connecticut State University

• Peter Kochol, Connecticut Judicial Branch

• Patrick Lakha, Central Connecticut State University