Changes in Risk and Protective Factors During Short-Term Detention

• In Event: Juvenile Intake and Detention

Abstract

The goal of short-term detention is to prevent juveniles and adolescents from committing crimes in the future. To be effective, short-term detention has to influence the risk and protective factors in young people that are associated with criminality, such as self-control, empathy, and violent beliefs. This study investigates if short-term detention leads to changes in a number of risk and protective factors, utilizing data collected at a German juvenile detention home in 2016. More than 100 juveniles and adolescents were surveyed at the beginning and at the end of their time in short-term detention. The questionnaires contained questions regarding the participants’ self-control, empathy, impulsivity, sensation seeking, their attitudes towards violence and the law, as well as their stay in short-term detention (e.g., participation in different activities and groups). The prevalence rates of the risk and protective factors in the sample will be presented, as well as changes in these factors during short-term detention. Limitations of the present study and implications of the findings for future research and practice will be discussed.

Author

• Thimna Klatt, Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony, Germany