SummaryAlthough a large body of research has studied the factors associated to general recidivism, predictive validity of these factors has received less attention. Andrews and Bonta's General Personality and Social Psychological Model (2006) Protective factors differentiated between recidivists and nonrecidivists in all factors. Hence, results showed that not only individual but also social factors would be crucial in predicting recidivism.Key words: Recidivism, risk and protective factors, delinquency, YLS/CMI, juvenile offender. 3Criminal behaviour, and in particular juvenile crime, may be regarded as an issue of major concern in today's society. Although the general level of youth offending does not seem to have increased, there has been a steady rise in recorded violent crime since 1991 (National Health Service in England and Wales, 2004;Rennie & Dolan, 2010).Specifically, in Spain (where minors from 14 to 17 years old are judged under the juvenile system), an increase in general violent crimes, sexual assaults and severe crimes in the family and school context have been found in the last ten years (Benavente, 2009;Capdevila, Ferrer & Luque, 2005;Pérez, 2010). Moreover, the reoffending rate ranged between 5 and 25%, depending on the type of crime (Capdevila et al., 2005;Iborra, Rodríguez, Serrano & Martínez, 2011). In this context, intervention in youth recidivism becomes critical, that is, to help preventing them from continuing their criminal career into adulthood, on a life-course-persistent trajectory (Moffit, 2006).Recidivism is not only a concern because of the impact on the public, but because of the impact on the quality of life of recidivating juveniles: increasing levels of alcohol/drug use (Becker, Kerig, Lim & Ezechukwu, 2012), personal discomfort and conflict (Gendreau, Little & Goggin, 1996), psychopathy (Salekin, 2008) and even high mortality risk (Coffey, Lovett, Cini, Patton, Wolfe & Moran, 2004).The concept of risk factors, and consequently protective factors, has become very important. A risk factor for offending is a variable that predicts a high probability of later offending (Farrington, Loeber & Ttofi, 2012;Ribeaud & Eisner, 2010). Some authors (Haines & Case, 2008) point out that risk factors can vary greatly. The same diversity applies to protective factors, which can be considered variables that predict a low probability of offending among persons exposed to risk factors (Farrington et al., 2012;Hartman, Turner, Daigle, Exum & Cullen, 2009 role. This study therefore includes both types of factors, while at the same time recognizing their independent nature (Haines & Case, 2008;Hoge, Andrews & Leschied, 1996). Social learning theories (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996;Andrews & Bonta, 2006) try to structure the wide range of risk and protective factors in accordance with their theoretical assumptions. These theories are mainly based on the fact that behaviour is interiorized through interaction with the environment, so criminal conduct will be more likely in youths who perceive more rewar...

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been associated with a greater risk of later criminal offending. However, existing research in this area has been primarily conducted in Western developed countries and cross-cultural studies are rare. Objectives: This study examined the relationship between ACEs and criminal behaviors in young adults living in 10 countries located across five continents, after accounting for sex, age, and cross-national differences. Participants and setting: In total, 3797 young adults aged between 18 and 20 years (M = 18.97; DP = 0.81) were assessed locally in community settings within the 10 countries.

A B S T R A C TThe aim of this study is to define a profile of juvenile offenders depending on the type of crime (against property or against persons), according to several socio-demographic variables, and a number of indicators of juvenile risk. Participants were 395 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 with a criminal record in the juvenile court over a two-year follow-up period. Results showed that in property-related offences the offender is more likely to be male, from an Eastern European country, and with inconsistent parenting. On the other hand, crimes against persons would be committed mostly by girls, Latin American or African juveniles, and with individual factors such as aggressive behaviour, outbursts of anger, poor frustration tolerance, or little concern for others. These results may be useful in designing crime prevention and offender intervention programmes.El objetivo del presente estudio es determinar la existencia de un perfil diferencial de menores infractores acusados de haber cometido delitos contra la propiedad y contra las personas, según diferentes variables sociodemográficas y diversos indicadores de riesgo juvenil. Los participantes fueron 395 menores entre 14 y 18 años, con expediente judicial en el Juzgado de Menores, en un periodo de seguimiento de dos años. Los resultados indican que en los delitos contra la propiedad es más probable encontrar un menor infractor de género masculino, procedente de los países del Este, con pautas educativas parentales inconsistentes. Por su parte, los delitos contra las personas serían cometidos en mayor proporción por mujeres, de nacionalidad latinoamericana o africana, predominando como principales factores de riesgo la agresividad, ataques de cólera, baja tolerancia hacia la frustración o poca preocupación por los demás. Estos datos pueden ser importantes de cara al diseño de programas de prevención de los delitos e intervención con infractores.

Recidivism risk assessment is central to addressing criminogenic needs among youth offenders. To accomplish this, the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) is worldwide used, but it is long and has limited predictive validity for minority populations. This study presents a particularly predictive combination of seven items that overcomes these limitations. A sample of 430 Spanish youth offenders participated in this study. The YLS/CMI long version was filled out and reconvictions were collected over a 2-year period. Results show that this combination of seven items reduced more than 80% of the inventory and improved the predictive validity, globally and for minorities. The items that were included were related to psychopathic traits and the lack of protective role models. Therefore, this specific combination of YLS/CMI items has considerable higher predictive validity across gender and culture, and may be useful to practitioners in this field.

ResumenEn los últimos años, en los medios de comunicación han aumentado alarmantemente los casos de lo que parece un nuevo y preocupante fenómeno de violencia doméstica: la violencia filio-parental. De esta forma, el objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la trayectoria delictiva y los factores de riesgo de los/as menores que han cometido violencia filio-parental en función del sexo. Los participantes de este estudio son 57 menores del Juzgado de Castellón (34 chicos y 23 chicas), cuyo rango de edad oscila entre 14 y 17 años, configurando una media de 15,81. El 82,5% de los/as jóvenes de la muestra han nacido en España, mientras que el 10,5% proceden de países del este de Europa, el 5,3% de países del sur de América y el 1,8% de países árabes. El perfil encontrado en este estudio para este tipo de delito sería el de un varón de 16 años de edad, nacido en España, que cuenta con una agresión filio-parental, que también ha cometido otro tipo de delitos y presenta riesgo en las áreas de Pautas educativas y Educación formal/empleo. En relación al perfil femenino, sería el de una chica de 15 años de edad, nacida en España, que cuenta con un expediente de violencia filio-parental, que no ha cometido otro tipo de delitos y con riesgo en el área de ocio y tiempo libre. Palabras clave:Violencia filio-parental, trayectoria delictiva, factores riesgo, menores infractores, YLS/CMI, IGI-J.

Intervention in youth recidivism is critical in helping prevent young people from continuing their criminal career into adulthood, on a life-course-persistent trajectory. Andrews and Bonta attempt to provide an explanation of risk and protective factors using a conversion of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI), which predicts recidivism. In this study, scores have been obtained from 382 adolescents ( M age = 16.33 years) from the juvenile court, to check the ability of a reduced version of the YLS/CMI, to predict recidivism. The outcome variables for recidivism were examined in the 2-year follow-up period, after their first assessment in the court. The risk factors showed good levels of recidivism prediction. Recidivists obtained significant higher mean total risk scores than nonrecidivists in the reduced ( M = 6.54, SD = 2.44; M = 3.66, SD = 2.85), with areas under the curve (AUCs) ranging from .601 to .857. The factors that emerged as the most discriminative were education/employment, criminal friends, and personality. All the protective factors differentiated between recidivists and nonrecidivists. The results, therefore, showed that this reduced version would be capable of predicting youth recidivism in a reliable way.

Situational action theory (SAT) has emphasized the interaction between individual and social influences on youth crime involvement. In this study, attitudes towards violence, self-control and perception of neighbourhood are tested in order to determine to what extent they predict versatility in violent and non-violent offences. In order to attain this goal, 2309 Belgian youths aged from 12 to 18 years were administered the Self-report Delinquency Questionnaire. When the offences are divided into violent and non-violent versatilities, the results show differences in the factors that predict delinquency; whereas attitudes towards violence and self-control predict all type of offences, the perception of neighbourhood is only a predictive factor for non-violent offences. External and internal factors need to be included in order to predict the widest range of criminal versatility, since committing a crime involves making choices that depend on the perceived alternatives.

The increase in the rate of child to parent violence is a concern for society in various countries. Different psychological and personal characteristics tend to define the profile of the minors who commit this type of offense. Various social factors have been also related to this type of violence, including exposure to violence, the family environment and parenting. The relationship between child to parent violence and previous exposure to violence has yet to be clarified. Comparatively little research on this crime involving samples from juvenile court has been undertaken. This study uses a standardized measure (YLS/CMI) to determine the extent to which three of the most extensively studied groups of factors in child to parent violence—the family context, parenting and the adolescents’ psychological characteristics are relevant in the predicting this type of violence. The sample consisted of a total of 342 juveniles from a Juvenile Court in Eastern Spain, dealt with under the terms of Organic Law 5/2000 regulating the Criminal Responsibility of Minors. A child to parent violence group is compared with a control group committing the entire range of offenses. Personal variables, antisocial personality and exposure to violence play a clear role in the commission of this type of crime. Parenting has a determinant influence even when compared with family characteristics. What affects the commission of this type of violence in the most serious cases is therefore not having been exposed to it, but instead the individual’s upbringing and their current relationship with their parents.