Risk-need assessment is widely accepted as best practice with juvenile offenders and is underpinned by a healthy research literature on risk assessment inventories. Previous studies have found both similarities and differences on risk measures when gender and racial/ethnic subgroups have been compared. Differential validity has been examined, but differential prediction has been overlooked. The current study undertook gender and ethnic comparisons for a large sample (n = 3568) of community-based juvenile offenders who were evaluated using the Australian Adaptation of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI-AA). Analyses showed various gender and ethnic differences at the item level, across domain scores and on the total inventory score, but not for validity indices. However, 1-year reoffending rates for youth in three classification categories (low, moderate, high) varied by gender and ethnicity. The findings were related to contemporary understandings of the risk factors for offending and the dynamics of crime for gender/ethnic subgroups. It is argued that in spite of these subgroup differences, a generic inventory such as the YLS/CMI-AA can be used fairly with various subgroups. Recommendations for how this could be accomplished are provided.

This study examined the predictive validity of the Australian Adaptation of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI-AA). The focus was on the subcomponents of the inventory, which represent one static and seven dynamic risk-need domains. Reoffending outcomes within 1 year of the inventory were obtained for a large sample (N = 3,568) of young people under juvenile justice supervision in the community. Logistic regression analyses investigated the relative contribution of YLS domain scores. The results showed that the static and four dynamic domain scores independently predicted recidivism and that the combination of those domain scores yielded a small improvement in prediction. A similar pattern of results was obtained from analyses of the simple additive scores for the YLS domains. The findings support the YLS/CMI-AA total score as a sufficiently useful predictor of risk, and they clarify the contribution of static and dynamic risk components.

Empathy is an important competence in our social world, a motivator of prosocial behavior, and thought to develop throughout the second year of life. The current study examined infants' responses to naturalistic peer distress to explore markers of empathy and prosocial behavior in young babies. Seventeen 8-month-old infants participated in a repeated measures design using the "babies-in-groups" paradigm, with maternal presence as the independent variable. Significant differences were found between response types: Gaze was the standard response to infant distress, followed by socially directed behaviors and affect, with self-distress rarely occurring. Maternal presence was not found to impact the nature or frequency of babies' responses to peer distress. During distress episodes, babies looked preferentially at the distressed peer, then other mothers, and least to their own mother. Data revealed that infant responses to peer distress resulted in a successful cessation of that distress episode over one third of the time. Case studies are provided to illustrate the quantitative data. The results provided evidence of empathic concern and prosocial behavior in the first year of life, and provoke a challenge to developmental theories of empathy.

Cyberbullying is an increasingly common characteristic of contemporary online communication. The current study surveyed 320 Internet-active young adults and found up to 80% reported engaging in this behavior at least once. In addition, the ability of the general theory of crime and general strain theory to explain cyberbullying perpetration was tested. Evidence for both theories was observed, with both low self-control and higher levels of strain related to cyberbullying perpetration. Furthermore, opportunity (operationalized as moderate and high number of hours online) interacted with low self-control to increase perpetration, and anger partially mediated the relationship between strain and cyberbullying. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The criminal court system remains society's pre-eminent response to criminal activity, despite recent innovations such as youth justice conferences. Little is known, however, about the impact of an appearance before court and, in particular, whether subjective reactions to the court process have any impact on recidivism. The current article reports the results of a longitudinal study conducted in the New South Wales (NSW) Children's Court. Two hundred and six young offenders were interviewed immediately after the conclusion of their sentencing hearing using a questionnaire designed to measure the extent to which they perceived the court hearing to be a deterrent, and the extent to which they felt either stigmatised or reintegrated by the experience of being sentenced. Other factors measured included the developmental background of the young person, their academic record, peer influence, and licit and illicit drug use. Participants with previous convictions and who felt stigmatised by the hearing were more likely to reoffend, while participants rating their likelihood of arrest in the event of future offending as high, and who reported that the sentence they received would prevent future offending, were less likely to reoffend. Some evidence was obtained, therefore, to support both deterrence and labelling theory.

This study confirms the structure and construct validity of the DASS-21 and provides support for its use as a screening tool in traumatic brain injury rehabilitation.

Evidence from both Australian and international jurisdictions show that children in residential care are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the current study, we interviewed 46 professionals who had contact with young people in residential care settings in New South Wales, Australia. Our sample included police officers, residential care service providers, legal aid lawyers and juvenile justice workers, about their perceptions of the link between residential care and contact with the criminal justice system. Factors identified by the participants included the care environment itself, use of police as a behavioural management tool, deficient staff training and inadequate policies and funding to address the over-representation. These factors, combined with the legacy of Australia’s colonial past, were a particularly potent source of criminalisation for Aboriginal children in care.

This study uses propensity score matching to test the proposition that imprisonment deters future criminal activity among juvenile offenders. Using data from all court appearances of juveniles in the NSW Children’s Court (Australia) between 2003 and 2004 ( N = 6196), the reoffending of a group of young offenders sentenced to control (i.e. custodial) orders ( N = 376) was compared to a matched group of offenders receiving community-based sanctions. No differences were observed between the two groups. The young offenders given detention orders had a slightly lower rate of reoffending, but this difference was not significant. The results of this study indicate that, over the time period examined in this study, the imposition of a custodial sentence had no effect on the risk of reoffending.