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Violent video game playing is correlated with aggression, but its relation to antisocial behavior in correctional and juvenile justice samples is largely unknown. Based on a data from a sample of institutionalized juvenile delinquents, behavioral and attitudinal measures relating to violent video game playing were associated with a composite measure of delinquency and a more specific measure of violent delinquency after controlling for the effects of screen time, years playing video games, age, sex, race, delinquency history, and psychopathic personality traits. Violent video games are associated with antisociality even in a clinical sample, and these effects withstand the robust influences of multiple correlates of juvenile delinquency and youth violence most notably psychopathy.

Moral engagement produces strong emotions that help individuals refrain from serious criminal behavior, but what if a youth is unable to experience these emotions. Based on a sample of adjudicated delinquents and using a series of structural equation models, we test whether moral disengagement varies by level of psychopathy in relation to criminal onset and assess this stability across gender. Psychopathic personality features, moral disengagement, and family stress intermixed in diverse ways depending on the severity of psychopathic personality and gender. At higher levels of psychopathy, the effect of psychopathy on criminal onset was unmediated. However, moral disengagement was found to have mediating effects on criminal onset at lower levels of psychopathy. Study findings lend support to the hypothesis that due to core emotional deficits, youth high on psychopathy are unaffected by the mechanisms of moral disengagement. Results are discussed in light of theories of morality and psychopathy and the treatment of moral deficits among youthful offenders.

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At least one third of youth involved with juvenile justice experienced child maltreatment. Child welfare samples thus provide a means to examine how child welfare services moderate the relationship between maltreatment and delinquency, producing information essential for tailoring services to disrupt this link. This article contributes to understandings of which youth are likely to become involved with juvenile justice by examining its relationships with child welfare experiences and mental health and substance abuse service receipt, with particular attention to racial and gender differences. In multivariate analyses of a birth cohort of child welfare-involved youth, mental health services are associated with juvenile justice, and substance abuse services are predictive for White boys and out-of-home placement for girls. For youth experiencing out-of-home placement, mental health services are associated with increased likelihood of juvenile justice and substance abuse services with decreased likelihood, while congregate care predicts juvenile justice for girls and White youth.