Recidivism Risk Factors among Mississippi Justice-Involved Youth: Latent Class Analysis of the SAVRY

• In Event: Evaluating CJ Interventions: Facial Recognition, Risk Assessment, and Implementation Science

Abstract

The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) instrument is a popular risk-need-responsivity tool for justice-involved youth. This study conducted a multi-group latent class analysis of the SAVRY risk measures items to explore heterogeneity in risk/needs among youths involved in the juvenile court in Mississippi between 2017 and 2021. Results indicated a three-class solution best with the data, with Very Low, Low, and Bimodal classes. Generally, these groups were similar across sex, although the Bimodal subgroup was proportionally larger for females than males. Subsequent analyses indicated the Bimodal group was significantly younger and more involved in future one-year recidivism. These findings suggest subgroups of risk exist and should be examined further to assess future recidivism and other risks.

Authors

• Richard Dembo, University of South Florida

• Sheena Gardner, Mississippi State University

• Angela Robertson, Mississippi State University

• Jennifer Wareham, Wayne State University

• James Schmeidler, Mt. Sinai Medical School