Examination of long-term postrelease outcomes of juvenile homicide offenders

Behavioral Sci & The Law

2019

Self Cite

Murders committed by juveniles have been a major concern in the USA for more than 40 years. Due to decisions in the 21st century by the United States Supreme Court, the likelihood of juvenile homicide offenders being sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) is less than in past decades. In addition, hundreds of individuals in prison who were sentenced to LWOP under mandatory sentencing statutes or their equivalent as juveniles for murder are now eligible for resentencing and may be released. Given these changes in sentencing policies and practices, follow‐up research on juveniles involved in murder is needed. This study is a 35‐year follow‐up study of 59 boys who were convicted of murder and sentenced to adult prisons in a southeastern state, and initially interviewed in the early 1980s. Twenty‐two of these men agreed to participate in clinical interviews about their experiences in prison and upon return to the community if released. The experiences in prison are highlighted for all men. Thereafter, attention focuses on the 19 juvenile homicide offenders who have been released. Of these 19 men, 11 were classified as failures given that they were sent back to prison at least once. Length of time served and completion of GED were the best predictors of post‐release success. Clinical observations, implications of the findings, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Juvenile homicide offenders: A 35‐year‐follow‐up study

Behavioral Sci & The Law

2019

Self Cite

“…Regression analysis indicated that JHOs who served shorter sentences (six years or less), relative to those who served longer sentences (seven years or more), were six times more likely to be rearrested for a violent offense. Demographic characteristics and pre-homicide criminal behavior were not related to post-release arrest [58].…”

Section: Studies Of Jhos Incarcerated In Adult Prisonsmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The average length of time JHOs served in DiCataldo's study was indeed longer than the other studies discussed above. Notably, the length of time served was correlated or predictive of success in five of the studies reviewed above [21,49,53,55,58].…”

Section: Jho Recidivism: Summary and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Six of these studies examined JHOs confined in juvenile facilities [49][50][51][52][53][54]. The remaining six of these focused on JHOs committed to adult prisons [21,[55][56][57][58][59]].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Khachatryan, Heide and colleagues [58] subsequently conducted a second follow-up study of these 59 JHOs 30 years after their involvement in homicide. This study focused on release and recidivism using arrest data.…”

Section: Studies Of Jhos Incarcerated In Adult Prisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Juvenile Homicide Offenders Look Back 35 Years Later: Reasons They Were Involved in Murder

2020

IJERPH

Self Cite

Murders committed by juveniles have been a serious concern in the United States for more than 50 years. Decisions by the United States Supreme Court during the 21st century have reduced the likelihood that juvenile homicide offenders will be sentenced to life without parole (LWOP). As a result of these decisions, hundreds of prisoners who were sentenced as juveniles for murder to LWOP under mandatory sentencing statutes or its equivalent are now eligible for the reconsideration of their sentences. In light of these changes in sentencing policies and practices, follow-up research on juveniles convicted of murder is essential. This research is part of a 35-year follow-up study of 59 boys who were convicted of murder and sentenced to adult prisons in a southeastern state, and initially interviewed in the early 1980s. Twenty of these men agreed to participate in clinical interviews during which they reflected upon the reasons (i.e., motives, circumstances) for which they got involved in criminal behavior as juveniles. These reasons, which broadly tap tenets of psychological and sociological theories, were analyzed in terms of predominance. Thereafter, the attention focuses on looking at the relationship of these 20 reasons to recidivism among the 18 juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) who have been released from prison. JHOs who lived in neighborhoods where crime was routine and who engaged in crime because the opportunity presented itself were approximately 20 and 22.50 times more likely to be arrested post release and returned to prison, respectfully. The implications of these findings, the limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Juvenile homicide offenders: Why they were involved in serious crime

Behavioral Sci & The Law

2021

Self Cite

The perpetration of murders by juveniles (individuals under age 18) has been a serious concern in the United States since the 1960s. As a result of four decisions by the United States Supreme Court during the 21st century, the likelihood that juvenile homicide offenders will be released back into society is substantially higher than it was in the year 2000. Given these changes in sentencing policies and practices, understanding why youths under 18 engage in homicidal behavior is more important than ever for two reasons: to prevent juveniles from killing in the first place and to determine whether their reasons for killing are related to post‐release outcome. This research is a part of a 35‐year follow‐up study of 59 boys, age 14 to 17, who were convicted of murder or attempted murder, and sentenced to adult prisons in a southeastern state. Twenty of these men discussed the reasons for their involvement in murder in person in a second interview conducted by the author 35 years after her first interview with them. These men's reasons for engaging in serious homicidal behavior reflected both psychological and sociological factors. Although the type of explanation for criminal involvement was not significantly related to post‐release outcome, some interesting patterns were discernible. The implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.