Citation

Basto-Pereira M, Ribeiro S, Maia A. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2018; 62(7): 1787-1805.

Affiliation

University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X17690450

PMID

28152636

Abstract

Over the last decade, studies have evaluated the effectiveness of interventions for juvenile offenders; nonetheless, those studies were more focused on recidivism than on the mechanisms associated with criminal perpetration. The current study explores the role of juvenile justice involvement and detention measures in a set of psychological, social, and criminal behavior characteristics in early adulthood. Seventy-five young adults with official records of juvenile delinquency in 2010-2011 and 240 young adults from the community filled out our protocol in 2014-2015. Young adults with juvenile justice involvement showed worse psychological, social, and criminal outcomes than those from community. Detention appears to be related to the number of deviant friends, delinquency, and school achievement in early adulthood. Our findings are in line with the labeling and deviant peer contagion theories and establish the main areas of interventions that affect the identified needs. A set of policy implications is provided.

Language: en

Keywords

crime; detention measures; juvenile delinquency; juvenile justice system; social marginalization