Race, Gender, and Program Type as Predictive Risk Factors of Recidivism for Juvenile Offenders in Georgia

The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology Volume 7 Issue 2 Georgia (and the New South) On My Mind: Southern Culture in the Peach State and Beyond Article 1 October 2015 Race, Gender, and Program Type as Predictive Risk Factors of Recidivism for Juvenile Offenders in Georgia Matheson Sanchez Kennesaw State University, Gang Lee Kennesaw State University, Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps Recommended Citation Sanchez, Matheson and Lee, Gang (2015) "Race, Gender, and Program Type as Predictive Risk Factors of Recidivism for Juvenile Offenders in Georgia," The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology: Vol. 7 : Iss. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps/vol7/iss2/1 This Refereed Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact . Race, Gender, and Program Type as Predictive Risk Factors of Recidivism for Juvenile Offenders in Georgia Cover Page Footnote The data used in this study were provided by Dr. Gillis of Georgia College and State University. The authors wish to acknowledge the cooperation by Dr. Gillis. The Analyses and interpretations of the data, however, are those of the authors. This refereed article is available in The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jpps/ vol7/iss2/1 Sanchez and Lee: Race and Gender on Juvenile Recidivism in Georgia Introduction The juvenile justice system of the United States focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Recidivism, which generally refers to reoffending following release from custody or treatment, is therefore an important concept in all aspects of the juvenile justice system. It can be used to assess the juvenile justice system's successes or failures, including which juvenile treatment programs are better than others. It can help identify chronic offenders. It can even help scholars understand how offenders react to their experience behind bars. Recidivism rates are valuable tools in the task of understanding what best helps juvenile offenders succeed on their path to rehabilitation. Certain characteristics are closely tied to juvenile recidivism. Characteristics such as age (Farrington 1991; Gottredson and Hirschi 1990), mental health (Yampolskaya and Chuang 2012), sexual abuse (Conrad et al. 2014), and substance abuse (van der Put, Creemers, and Hoeve 2014) have, among others, been linked to juvenile recidivism. Race and gender have demonstrated strong correlations with juvenile recidivism. These relationships have been recorded for decades, and these attributes have been thought to be effective predictors of reoffending (Heilbrun and Heilbrun 1977; Wierson and Forehand 1995; Strom 2000; Langan and Levin 2002). However, these claims are difficult to support. This is partially due to the lack of any official juvenile recidivism rate, the reason for which is the greatly varied methods of defining and measuring juvenile recidivism from state to state. Because of this, potential effects on recidivism rates can generally only be analyzed using data from a single state. Nonetheless, single-state studies continue to broaden the general understanding of juvenile recidivism, the importance of which is paramount for the accurate application of treatment. Varying Definitions and Measurements of Recidivism Juvenile recidivism is a difficult concept to measure. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention cites this as the reason for not having a defined national juvenile recidivism rate (Sickmund and Snyder 2006). The report states that "such a rate would not have much meaning since juvenile justice systems vary so much across states" (Sickmund and Snyder 2006, p.234). In fact, this creates many misleading figures regarding juvenile recidivism. In states that use rearrest as a measure of juvenile recidivism, the recorded rate of juveniles who recidivate is notably higher than in those states who use reconviction or reincarceration as the point of measurement (Snyder and Sickmund 2006). There are various considerations in determining how recidivism should be measured. The state of Georgia uses readjudication, or the processing of a case to the point of requiring final judgment by a juvenile court, and reconviction as a measure of recidivism (Department of Juvenile Justice 2011). Published by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University, 2015 1 The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology, Vol. 7, Iss. 2 [2015], Art. 1 In addition to measuring the effects that race and gender have on recidivism rates, determining which programs work best at preventing recidivism is an equally pressing matter. Using a Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice dataset, the current study aims to identify the effects of race and gender on juvenile recidivism, as well as the effectiveness of different juvenile justice program types in the state of Georgia. In doing so, trends specific to the state of Georgia may be exposed, and previous research will be replicated, testing the generalizability of those findings. Literature Review Race and gender have long been associated with juvenile crime, delinquency, and recidivism (Strom 2000; Langan and Levin 2002; Snyder and Sickmund 2006; Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice 2011). Data collections on both the state and federal level have made it clear that certain relationships exist between juvenile crime and these attributes (Langan and Levin 2002; Snyder and Sickmund 2006; Strom, 2000). In addition to race and gender, juvenile program type has a rich pool of empirical research (Kim, Merlo, and Benekos 2013; Klenowski, Bell, and Dodson 2010; Bontrager, Winokur, Hand, and Chapman 2013; Lipsey 2009; Greenwood 1996; Henggeler 1994; Austin, Johnson, and Weitzer 2005; Jewell et al. 2015; Ryan, Abrams, and Huang 2014; EvansChase and Zhou 2014; Howell, Lipsey, Wilson, and Howell 2014). Researchers are in consensus regarding which programs are best in keeping juveniles from recidivating. A closer inspection of the current literature on these topics is required in order to provide context of the current study's findings. Race and recidivism Disparately large amounts of racial and ethnic minorities make up the population of the juvenile justice system. Data collections suggest that racial minorities, especially black juveniles, are much more likely to be arrested (Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice 2011; Langan and Levin 2002; Snyder and Sickmund 2006; Strom 2000) than white youths. The trend continues in regards to recidivism. According to a recidivism report by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (2011), "delinquent recidivism rates continue to be disproportionately high for male and black populations." (p. (...truncated)