Crossroads in juvenile justice: The impact of initial processing decision on youth 5 years after first arrest

Abstract

The current study advances past research by studying the impact of juvenile justice decision making with a geographically and ethnically diverse sample (N = 1,216) of adolescent boys (ages 13–17 years) for the 5 years following their first arrest. Importantly, all youth in the study were arrested for an eligible offense of moderate severity (e.g., assault, theft) to evaluate whether the initial decision to formally (i.e., sentenced before a judge) or informally (i.e., diverted to community service) process the youth led to differences in outcomes. The current study also advanced past research by using a statistical approach that controlled for a host of potential preexisting vulnerabilities that could influence both the processing decision and the youth's outcomes. Our findings indicated that youth who were formally processed during adolescence were more likely to be re-arrested, more likely to be incarcerated, engaged in more violence, reported a greater affiliation with delinquent peers, reported lower school enrollment, were less likely to graduate high school within 5 years, reported less ability to suppress aggression, and had lower perceptions of opportunities than informally processed youth. Importantly, these findings were not moderated by the age of the youth at his first arrest or his race and ethnicity. These results have important implications for juvenile justice policy by indicating that formally processing youth not only is costly, but it can reduce public safety and reduce the adolescent's later potential contributions to society.

Measuring youths’ perceptions of police: Evidence from the crossroads study.

“…Participants were 1,216 male youth from the Crossroads study (see Beardslee et al, 2019; Cauffman et al, 2021). Youth between the ages of 13 and 17 years of age ( M age = 15.29) were eligible if they had recently been arrested for the first time for low-to-moderate offenses (e.g., vandalism: 17.5%, theft: 16.7%, marijuana possession: 14.8%).…”

A Within-Individual Examination of the Predictors of Gun Carrying During Adolescence and Young Adulthood Among Young Men

“…The Institutional Review Board at the participating universities approved all recruitment and study procedures. More detailed information about the Crossroads study has been published previously (Cauffman et al, 2021).…”

“…The sample included the 1216 male youth enrolled in the Crossroads Study (http://sites.uci.edu/crossroadsinfo/; see Cauffman et al, 2021). Youth were eligible to participate in the Crossroads Study if they were recently arrested for the first time for a low or moderate offense (e.g., vandalism; theft; mostly misdemeanors), were between 13 and 17 years old, and were being processed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (N = 533); Orange County, California (N = 532); or Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (N = 151).…”

Perceptions of police legitimacy and bias from ages 13 to 22 among Black, Latino, and White justice-involved males.

“…Participants were 1,216 male youth from the longitudinal Crossroads Study (Cauffman et al, 2021). Crossroads examines the short- and long-term impact of juvenile court versus noncourt processing on youth.…”

“…They informed participants of the nature of the study and explained that there was no penalty for not participating. Face-to-face interviews with the youth ranged from 2–3 hr (see Cauffman et al, 2021). Based on the sensitive nature of the sample and the data, the Department of Justice issued a Privacy Certificate that protects participants’ privacy by exempting both their identity and responses from subpoenas, court orders, and other types of involuntary disclosures.…”