understanding of juvenile delinquency. Additional
environmental factors associated with juvenile offend-
ing include poverty, tenuous community bonds,
minimal social control from other residents in the
neighborhood, and low parental supervision. A con-
sistent finding in juvenile delinquency research is that
associating with a delinquent peer group is a strong
predictor of serious, chronic offending. In contrast,
protective factors include consistent discipline and
positive, warm parental interactions.
Personality traits of juveniles also influence the fre-
quency and severity of their committing delinquent or
criminal acts. Callousness and impulsivity have both
been linked to future juvenile delinquency. Low restraint
(e.g., impulsivity) and high distress (e.g., anxiety) are
associated with rearrest. However, high-restraint youth
committed fewer but more severe crimes.
Callous and unemotional traits (e.g., lack of empa-
thy) have consistently been linked to a subgroup of
antisocial youth with particularly severe aggressive
behavior. Furthermore, callous children also express a
preference for arousing, dangerous stimuli and have
lower levels of reactivity to threatening or emotionally
upsetting stimuli.
Consequences of Juvenile Offending
Several consequences of juvenile offending exist, and
they are particularly salient for juveniles with early-
onset of delinquency. Early-onset juvenile offenders
are more likely to continue engaging in delinquent
behavior, and the repeated commission of such acts
throughout childhood is also a factor in persistent
delinquency. In other words, involvement in delin-
quency precludes juveniles from engaging in prosocial
behaviors and is associated with low educational
attainment, inadequate social skills, limited employ-
ment opportunities, low socioeconomic status, and, for
males, early parenthood. These juveniles also have
higher rates of externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggres-
sion), internalizing behaviors (e.g., depression), sub-
stance abuse, and suicide. The increased number
and severity of mental health problems in juvenile
offenders lead to their greater involvement with child
welfare service, mental health providers, and the crim-
inal justice system. Juvenile offenders and their
victims have more psychological and occupational
problems and, overall, a lower quality of life. Moreover,
juvenile delinquents who develop into chronic offend-
ers cost society $1.3 to 1.5 million. Because of the
great impact juvenile offending has on the children
involved in criminal activity and on society, further
research into prevention and intervention needs to be
conducted.
Haley L. Ford and Randall T. Salekin
See alsoJuvenile Offenders, Risk Factors; Juvenile
Psychopathy
Further Readings
Grisso, T., Vincent, G. M., & Seagrave, D. (2005). Mental
health screening and assessment in juvenile justice.
New York: Guilford Press.
Loeber, R., & Farrington, D. P. (2000). Young children who
commit crime: Epidemiology, developmental origins, risk
factors, early interventions, and policy implications.
Development and Psychopathology, 12,737–762.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). “Life-course-persistent” and
“adolescence-limited” antisocial behavior: A
developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review,
100,674–701.
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offenders
and victims: 2006 national report. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
JUVENILEOFFENDERS, RISK FACTORS
Broadly defined, a risk factor for juvenile offending
is any experience, circumstance, or personal charac-
teristic that increases the probability that a given
youth will commit a legal transgression. No single
risk factor causesoffending; many youths who have
been exposed to various risk factors never commit a
crime. Rather, juvenile offending typically emerges
as a result of complex interactions among a wide
variety of risk and protective factors that vary from
child to child. Combined risk factors tend to exhibit
additive effects, with the likelihood of offending
increasing as the number of risk factors increases.
Also, the impact of a given risk factor varies across
the life course; some may have an effect only at a par-
ticular developmental stage. Attempts to mitigate
possible risk factors must, therefore, take into
account a youth’s developmental status. The risk fac-
tors for different types of offending vary as well.
Studies have found that juvenile offenders tend to
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