Adolescent Offending Flashcards
Week 4
over ______% of people offend as adolescents
50%
____% of Canadian youth offended in the past year
20%
what are the most common offences that adolescents commit?
carrying a weapon, shoplifting. Serious offences are rare
what is the youngest age you can arrest?
age 12
what age does aggression peak at?
6 years old
__/4 of toddlers interactions are aggressive
1/4
adolescent development leads to
heightened risk-taking
why would adolescents find risk-taking and crime to have benefits?
Fitting in, peer respect, excitement, money, autonomy
they think about the immediate rewards
in grade 3, aggressive kids are LESS _____ and in adolescence…
LESS popular but in adolescence, aggression seen as less negative, elevated social status
impulsivirt declines from age ____ on
age 10
in middle adolescence, there is high _______ and high _______
high impulsivity &
high sensation seeking (want to seek out
novel stimuli)
Prefrontal cortex continues to
develop until
mid-20s (plan &
control behaviour)
synaptic pruning
our brain becomes more efficient
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT DURING ADOLESCENCE?
• Increase in dopaminergic activity (reward sensitivity) • Prefrontal cortex continues to develop until mid-20s (plan & control behavior) • Synaptic pruning (makes brain more efficient)
T/F: In general, people’s offending declines over time
TRUE
- Due to maturing
- Psychosocial maturity accounts for 34% of the of drop (e.g., better able to control impulses)
- Social learning accounts for 49% of the drop (e.g., more resistant to peer influence)
Moffits developmental taxonomy
Different types of offenders
1) life-course persistent
2) adolescent-onset
3) child-limited
4) adult-onset
life-course persistent starts
early, during childhood
life-course persistent cause is from
Neuropsychological deficits (e.g., impulsivity) plus unsupportive environment
life-course persistent duration
- Hypothesized to be lifelong offenders
• But some research indicates that most offenders stop by mid-adulthood
how common are life-course persistent offenders?
Rare, most adolescents who offend are not lifelong offenders
ADOLESCENT ONSET OFFENDERS starts at
adolescence
ADOLESCENT ONSET OFFENDERS cause
Maturity gap + delinquent peers
• Sexually mature but aren’t recognized as such
• Offending helps acquire mature status
ADOLESCENT ONSET OFFENDERS duration
Hypothesized to stop in adulthood
• However, research has found that still offending at age 25 but less than life course
how common is ADOLESCENT ONSET OFFENDERS
Common/normative
WHY DIDN’T THE ADOLESCENT-ONSET OFFENDERS STOP BY
20?
- Maybe desistance might be delayed as society has evolved?
- In past: age 18 – moved out, got a job, got married
- Now: these things happen later; “emerging adulthood” – 18-25 years old
- Maybe experimenting with offending during adolescence has costs
- Some become ensnared (trapped in the crimes they committed as adolescents)
Structured Assessment of Violence Risk In Youth (SAVRY)
type of tool:
Structured Professional judgement tool
Structured Assessment of Violence Risk In Youth (SAVRY)
purpose:
Designed to predict violence in adolescents, now also nonviolent offending
Structured Assessment of Violence Risk In Youth (SAVRY)
items:
30 items, many of which are dynamic and some protective factors
how was the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk In Youth (SAVRY) developed?
developed through literature review
what is the research support for Structured Assessment of Violence Risk In Youth (SAVRY)?
MODERATE predictive validity, one of most widely used adolescent
tools
4 sections of SAVRY
1) historical (early history of violence)
2) social/contextual (peer delinquency)
3) individual/clinical (anger management)
4) protective (strong attachments and bonds)
Priming Unconscious Racial Stereotypes • Police & probation officers • Subliminally exposed to words related to Black people • Or neutral words • Then rated hypothetical offender on deserved punishment, risk, etc.
what was the result?
When primed to think about Black
youth, rated youth as higher risk and
more deserving of punishment
Were not using a risk assessment tool
– just their unstructured judgment
Probation Officers Reports of white youth and black youth criminals
• In White youth, crime attributed to
environment (e.g., poverty)
• In Black youth, crime attributed to
internal causes (e.g., bad person)
unstructured judgement. no tools used
can a 14 year old be charged as an adult?
yes
what are the consequences for youth criminals, from low to the worst punishment
1: warning/diversion
2: probation
3: incarceration (juvenile)
4: incarceration (adult sentence)
5: life without parole
6: death penalty
what countries have executed youth since 2000?
- Saudi Arabia
- Sudan
- Pakistan
- Nigeria
- Iran
- Yemen
- United States (age 16+)
USA overturned juvenile death penalty in
2005
which country is the only country to give juveniles a life sentence without parole (LSOP)?
USA
T/F: African-American youth more likely to receive LSOP
true
explained court cases that have reduced LSOP
• Graham v. Florida (2010) – overturned juvenile life without parole for non-homicide cases
• Miller v. Alabama (2012) – juvenile life without parole violates 8th amendment (cruel & unusual
punishment)
Youth Criminal Justice Act (2003) made adult sentencing easier by
Lowered age to 14, but provinces can provide a higher age and expanded the types of offences for a kid to be tried as an adult but it was repealed in R. v. D.B. (2008)
WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR TRANSFER TO ADULT COURT OR
ADULT SENTENCING?
legal;
- age
- offense severity
- criminal history
psychological factors;
- risk of violence
- treatment amenability
- sophistication
DOES TRANSFER TO ADULT COURT REDUCE REOFFENDING?
• Most studies: transfer does not reduce
offending
• Some research: transferred kids were
MORE likely to reoffend
• e.g., more deterrent in violent offenders than
property offenders (Loughran et al., 2010)
in BC, approximately ____ of murder/manslaughter cases receive adult sentences
half
WHAT RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES MIGHT BE USED WHEN RISK OF VIOLENCE?
1) Supervision/controls
- prison, probation
2) treatment
- therapy
3) monitoring
- reevaluate risk periodically
4) victim safety planning
- fence on bridge to prevent rocks
- warn potential victims
HOW CAN WE DECIDE ON RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES?
RISK-NEED-RESPONSIVITY (RNR) MODEL
___ is the leading model of offender treatment
RNR
RNR provides us with guiding _____ to guide our ______
principles to guide our decisions. when we follow these principles, there is lower reoffending
RNR: Risk principle
HOW MUCH interventions to deliver.
you match the services/interventions to risk level
intervention =
risk management strategy
why shouldnt we give lots of services to low risk people?
- its a poor use of our LIMITED resources.
- it may be ineffective
- it also may make matters worse (ex. take a low risk person and put them in prison, their risk level MAY increase)
RNR: Needs principle
WHAT you target in interventions.
you target an individuals CRIMINOGENIC needs – the needs that contribute to offending [ex. antisocial, drinking problems, impulsive] (vs. non-criminogenic needs [ex. anxiety or depression])
what are non-criminogenic needs?
factors that are not linked to offending
why not target non-criminogenic needs?
- Treating noncriminogenic needs doesn’t reduce offending
- Poor use of limited resources
RNR: Responsivity principle
HOW you deliver interventions.
2 parts
- SPECIFIC RESPONSIVITY: tailor treatment to individual characteristics (strengths, cognitive limitations, culture, gender)
- GENERAL RESPONSIVITY: uses CBT, instead of other approaches like psychodynamic approach (how they grew up, relationships with parents)
answer in RNR model.
BUT WHY IS IT BAD TO
TREAT DEPRESSION AND
ANXIETY?
According to RNR model, it’s not bad per se. It’s just not effective in reducing reoffending.
scared straight theory
1) take at risk kids to prison
2) inmates scare them
3) they dont get in trouble again
does scared straight work? why?
noooooooo.
• “The project may romanticize the Lifers-and by extension other prison inmates-in young,
impressionable minds.”
• “Or, the belittling, demeaning, intimidating, and scaring of particular youth may be seen
as a challenge; a challenge to go out and prove themselves…”
• “Delinquency fulfilling prophecy”
group therapy theory
- common form of treatment in prison
- inexpensive
- variety of models and approaches - some structured some not
which are better; structured groups or unstructured groups?
structured groups are better
multi-systemic therapy
-made in 1990’s as alternative to incarceration
-family-based treatment for adolescents
-occurs in the community (HOME)
• Family, peer, school, & individual interventions
• e.g., teach parenting
skills, address
parental substance
use, connect to
prosocial peers
• Intensive – therapist available 24/7; 3-6 months
DOES MULTI-SYSTEMATIC THERAPY (MST) WORK?
yes!
- Reduced offending
- Self-reported and official records
* Even 22 years later! - Improved mental health
- Improved relationships
- Improved school commitment
BUT IS MULTISYSTEMATICTHERAPY WORTH IT?
• Costs a lot to run • But taxpayer savings: $49,443 per youth • Once consider victim tangibles/intangibles (e.g., suffering): up to $199,374 per youth
even though there are effective treatments work, what percentage of youth actually receive these programs?
ONLY 5%
What statement best describes the current status of transfer to adult court in Canada?
Adolescents may be given adult sentences within youth court proceedings. They don’t get transferred
In us the death penalty for adolescents was overturned in
2005
