In Re... Volume IV, Number 2, 2001
Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Why Should You Pay Attention?
by John Brigham, Senior Attorney, National Juvenile Justice Prosecution Center, American Prosecutors Research Institute, Alexandria, Virginia
Just as 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish...
So, too, with juvenile offenders and crime. Few delinquent children become adult criminals and most delinquent juveniles cease serious criminality when they become adults. Still, a small number of juveniles are persistent offenders, with 4 or more police contacts to their credit.1 Most violent juveniles are also chronic offenders who commit violent offenses in the course of their overall offending career2 (serious violent offenses are: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, kidnapping; serious non-violent offenses are: burglary, automobile theft, larceny in excess of $100, arson, drug distribution, extortion).3 They commit more serious offenses as their careers progress and continue to commit less serious offenses.4 These juveniles, the serious and violent juvenile offenders (SVJOs), are a small part of the juvenile offender population but they commit a disproportionate percentage of juvenile crime. Even though they represent only 15% of the juvenile offenders, they commit approximately 75% of the violent crime.5
Are serious and violent juvenile offenders different?
Yes: SVJOs offend earlier, continue offending for a longer time and begin to display behavior problems at an earlier age;6 a disproportionately large number (and, it should be noted, of their victims) are African-American;7 they engage in higher rates of gun ownership, gang membership, sexual activity, teenage parenthood and early separation or independence from family.8
Mostly male, SVJOs often have a history of very early minor delinquent behavior followed by progressively more serious acts (even though, as many prosecutors can attest, girls are displaying rising levels of serious crime, there remains a serious scarcity of specific research on female SVJOs; the available data is, at best, incomplete; the reader must be aware that the profiles and indicators for female SVJOs do not necessarily match what we know about boys).9
Most SVJOs have multiple problems: drug and alcohol abuse dependency, emotional and mental health problems, truancy, problematic educational histories.10 Additionally, many SVJOs are victims of violence.11
Prosecutor’s problem, prosecutor’s opportunity
On average, the first juvenile court contact for male SVJOs occurs at age 14.5. The actual delinquency histories of SVJOs, however (based on interviews with offenders and their parents), begin before that: typically, minor behavior problems begin at age 7, moderately serious problems at age 9.5 and serious delinquent offenses at age 11.9.12
On average, then, seven years elapses between the time of the SVJO’s early, minor behavior problems and his (or her—again, most of the research applies largely to males) first court appearance on a serious charge.13 For prosecutors, this 7-year window presents a significant crime problem but it is also a prevention and intervention opportunity.
Some possible predictors for SVJOs?
Boys with several of the following risk factors are 5-20 times more likely to commit subsequent serious and violent offenses than are other juveniles. It has been estimated that the percentage of juveniles convicted for violent crimes increased from a low of 3% for those without any risk factors to a high of 31%, for those with four risk factors, (low family income, large family size, low nonverbal IQ at ages 8-19, poor parenting). The greater the number of risk factors, the greater the probability for violence. Programs for juveniles with multiple risk factors, then, are more likely to prevent future violent behavior than are those that focus only on single risk factors.14
Hyperactivity, attention-deficit, restlessness, risk-taking. A 1993 study found that boys with restlessness and concentration difficulties had violent arrest rates five times greater than those without these difficulties. A Swedish study found that 15 percent of boys with these problems at the age of 13 had been arrested for violence by age 26.15
Aggressiveness and early violent behavior. Another Swedish study found that two thirds of boys rated by their teachers as highly aggressive at ages 10 and 13 had violent criminal records by age 26, a rate more than six times greater than those of boys who had not been similarly evaluated. A Chicago-area study found similar results: Almost 50% of 6-year old boys rated by their teachers as aggressive had been arrested for violent crimes by age 33; only one third of their less aggressive counterparts had been. Not surprisingly, early incidents of violence are especially predictive of later violent behavior: A 1995 study found that one-half of boys who had been adjudicated delinquent for violence were convicted of a violent crime by the time they turned 24, versus only 8 percent of juveniles not so adjudicated.16
Antisocial behavior and beliefs. For males, the following are associated with later violent behavior: stealing, vandalism, early tobacco use, sexual intercourse, dishonesty and hostility towards police.17
Family dysfunction and criminality. Young men and boys with criminal fathers or with fathers who had been arrested were 2.2 to 3.8 times more likely to commit violent criminal acts than men and boys without criminal fathers. Abused and neglected children and those whose parents had poor parenting skills were also more likely to offened. Boys with very strict parents were the most likely to commit violent offenses, closely followed by boys with very permissive parents. Boys who suffered from inconsistent discipline also were more likely to be violent. Inattentive parents and households with high levels of conflict also contributed to increased likelihood for future violence for their children.18
School and academic factors. Poor academic achievement, particularly in elementary school, can be a warning sign of subsequent violent crime. Truancy is another.19
Peer influence. The influence of delinquent peers—unlike the influence of delinquent siblings—was greater during adolescence than it was during early childhood. Gang involvement is the single most dispositive peer influence on violent behavior.20
Neighborhood and community influences. Poverty, community disorganization, local crime rates, exposure to violence, racial prejudice all influence the juvenile. Poverty is the most reliable predictor for later violence, closely followed by high local crime rates, availability of drugs and firearms, the influence of local adult criminals and exposure to violent acts and racial prejudice.21
Childbirth and metabolic indicators. Difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth may be indicative of eventual violent tendencies and a low resting heart rate, often thought to indicate fearlessness or underarousal, may indicate that such an individual is more prone to violence, aggression or thrill-seeking. However, this research is not conclusive.22
Here’s why we must pay attention to SVJOs
First, prosecutors are leaders and agents for change in their communities. Their roles and missions continue to evolve. Prosecutors understand that crime prevention, as many police departments and prosecutor’s offices around the nation have proven, reduces and prevents crime before it occurs. Still, experienced prosecutors can relate how they continue to see an apparently endless supply of tomorrow’s felons in juvenile court today. This is tragic and preventable: Most juveniles, unlike so many of their adult counterparts, can be reached. Juveniles, by virtue of their age alone, are susceptible to reform and rehabilitation. Of course, not all are; prosecutors who espouse prevention must still seek incarceration when necessary, for one prosecutorial function that will never change is the obligation to protect the public.
Sometimes, however, the need to prevent future crime, through the use of reform, rehabilitation and other alternative strategies, is a goal that many victims and frustrated citizens simply do not want to hear. It can be difficult to defend prevention when the voters want their prosecutor to lock up every offender, every time. Fortunately, another persuasive argument in favor of crime prevention is available to prosecutors: Money.
A 1998 study attempted to estimate the financial costs of crime to society. 23 Although only an estimate, and therefore somewhat subjective, this study is a useful (and startling) depiction of the burden of crime. The study attempted to calculate factors such as the “average” range and number of crimes committed by an “average” criminal (estimated as 68-80 crimes of all types and an active career of 10 years, including 4 as a juvenile), and the costs—tangible and otherwise—to the victims and to the criminal justice system, including incarceration costs.
The result? The figures are truly frightening. The cost of crime imposed on the rest of us by only one criminal, using the factors described above, was estimated as $1.3 - $1.5 million.24 Add to this the costs associated with the drug abuse of this criminal (reduced productivity, lost wages and taxes, drug profits, treatment costs, premature death, etc.). This adds another $150,000 to $360,000 to the bill.25 It gets worse: add the costs imposed upon society by a high-school dropout (reduced wages and taxes, lowered productivity, etc.), which this criminal was calculated to be. This results in another $470,000 to $750,000.26 The bottom line? A total cost to society of $2.2 - $3 million27 (no attempt was made to calculate aggregate costs; for example, the costs to the larger society caused by a general fear of crime. Had this been done, a much greater figure would have resulted).27 This $2.2 - $3 million figure is an astonishing number and a highly compelling argument for crime prevention.
Clearly, identification and deterrence of SVJOs must be a large part of any sensible prevention strategy. These offenders cannot be ignored. The lamentable numbers detailed here represent a serious societal dilemma, concretely expressed in dollars and cents, that speaks persuasively to all and does so regardless of the racial, economic, demographic, geographic or political affiliation of the audience. This is a compelling story, one that every victim, citizen, taxpayer and voter will certainly understand and one that every thoughtful prosecutor should not hesitate to communicate.28
Snyder, H. N. and Sickmund, M. (1995), Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report. OJJDP, U.S. Department of Justice, June, pg. 49. And see: Wolfgang, M., Figlio, R., and Sellin, T. (1972), Delinquency in a Birth Cohort, Chicago: University of Chicago Press and Wolfgang, M., Thornberry, T. and Figlio, R. (1987), From Boy to Man, From Delinquency to Crime, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, OJJDP, U. S. Department of Justice, Juvenile Justice Bulletin, pg. 2.
Id.
Huizinga, D., Loeber, R., and Thornberry, T. B. (1994), Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse: Initial Finding, Cited in Howell, J. C. (1995), Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent and Chronic Offenders, OJJDP, U.S. Department of Justice, June, pg. 2.
Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, OJJDP, pg. 2.
Id.
J. David Hawkins, Todd I. Herrenkohl, David P. Farrington, Devon Brewer, Richard F. Catalano, Tracy W. Harachi, Lynn Cothern, Predictors of Youth Violence, OJJDP, U. S. Department of Justice. And see: Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, OJJDP.
Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, OJJDP, pg. 2.
Id., pg. 3.
Hawkins, Herrenkohl, Farrington, Brewer, Catalano, Harachi and Cothern, Predictors of Youth Violence, OJJDP, pg. 2.
Id.,pg. 2.
Id., pgs. 2-3.
Id., pg. 3.
Id., pgs. 3-4.
Id., pgs. 4-5.
Id., pg. 5
Id.,pg. 2.
Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, OJJDP, U. S. Department of Justice, Chapter 3, citing Mark Cohen, The Monetary Value of Saving a High-Risk Youth, Journal of Quantative Criminology, 14 (1).
Id.
An examination of the merits of effective prevention/rehabilitation programs for serious and violent juvenile offenders is beyond the scope of this article. However, the following resources may be helpful:
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