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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The goal of this article by Truscott was to compare the psychological functioning and abuse history of delinquent youth. Violent nonsexual offenders, sexual offenders, and property offenders were compared.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi-experimental design was used for this study. Admissions to an inpatient Young Offenders' Assessment Unit were reviewed over 20 months. 153 of 256 admissions met the criteria for the study. The mean age of the youth in the study was 15.7. The average IQ of participants was 99. The author reported that these did not differ significantly by offender group. Twenty-three of the 153 were sex offenders, 51 were violent offenders, and 79 were property offenders. Personality functioning was measured by the ten clinical scales of the MMPI. The content of these scales was not discussed. Physical abuse was defined as being hit by a fist, kicked, or bitten two times or more or beaten up or threatened with a knife or gun once or more by the parents. Sexual abuse was defined as unwanted sexual contact. The measures of abuse were obtained during the clinical interview. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author did not find significant differences between the three groups on any of the MMPI scales or in physical abuse history. All three groups reported high amounts of physical abuse. Sexual offenders had significantly higher amounts of sexual abuse (p<.01) than either nonviolent property offenders or nonsexual violent offenders.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author stated that assessing personality traits in relation to adolescent criminal behavior should be approached cautiously, if at all.
EVALUATION:
This study contributes to the growing body of literature that shows abuse history in the backgrounds of delinquents and sexual abuse history in the background of adolescent sexual offenders. The author does employ a comparative approach which gives the ability to discriminate youth in his sample. However, this study must be taken with some caution. First, while discriminating between types of delinquents is possible here, there are no non-delinquent controls from which to make inferences about differences between the delinquent youth and non-delinquent youth. Additionally, the sample size is based on clinical admissions to one particular treatment facility and can only be generalized to such.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Juvenile Crime
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile Offender
Juvenile Violence
Sexual Assault Offender
Property Crime
Comparative Analysis
Violent-Nonviolent Offender Comparison
Sexual-Non Sexual Offender Comparison
Offender Characteristics
Offender Functioning
Offender Personality
Personality Characteristics
Child Abuse-Crime Link
Child Abuse-Delinquency Link
Child Abuse Effects
Child Abuse Victim
Child Abuse-Violence Link
Child Physical Abuse Effects
Child Physical Abuse Victim
Child Victim
Victim Turned Offender
Domestic Violence Effects
Domestic Violence Victim
Sexual Assault Causes
Delinquency Causes
Violence Causes
Crime Causes
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