Citation

Rankin JH, Wells LE. J. Crim. Justice 1985; 13(2): 171-180.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(85)90065-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An important issue in juvenile justice today is whether the juvenile court should maintain or abandon its present legal jurisdiction over status offenders. Arguments in favor of retaining such jurisdiction are often based on the relatively untested assumption of career 'escalation' -- the idea that juvenile misbehaviors, if left untreated, will increase in seriousness with age from status offenses to more serious forms of delinquency. However, our analysis of self-reported surveys from a national panel of boys indicates that patterns of juvenile misbehaviors are more likely to be stable or constant over time than to increase in seriousness. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.