Family Factors, Delinquency and System Involvement

• In Event: Contextual and Mediating Effects in Juvenile Justice Outcomes

Abstract

Research suggests extra-legal factors play a significant role in the decision-making process in juvenile courts, and that the use of substantial discretion in juvenile courts has led to a significant variability in the way youth are treated by officials. Prior research has indicated that youth’s family structure may serve as an external factor that is often used during assessments made in the juvenile justice system. Juvenile court officials may use family structure to make inferences regarding the function of youth’s family and their risk for delinquency. Yet, there is a lack of literature examining the role of youth’s family structure on juvenile system involvement. The goal of this study is to fill the gap in research by examining the relationship between youth’s family structure on youth’s family function, delinquency and system involvement using data from LONGSCAN.

Author

• Vitoria De Francisco Lopes, University of Mississippi