Chapter 3 Flashcards
Is violence present in adolescents?
For some youth there is a increased involvement in antisocial and criminal acitivites –> serious social problem
How present are risk assessment tools for juveniles, how do they differ?
Very few instruments present
largely based on unstructured clinical judgements
Risk assessments more complex:
Juveniles vary per developmental stage (i.e., childhood: indiviudal characteristics + family risk factors; adolescence: peer group + school risk factors)
Main problem: neglecting protective factors
What are the three models used to describe stress on the quality of adaption?
Challenge model of resiliency
Protective factor model
Protective model of resiliency
What is the challange model of resliency?
Stressor seen as potential enhancer of successful adaption
Need for right balance of stressors (–> to little = boring, too much = dysfunction)
protection develops by successfully engaging in risk
What is the protective factor model?
Relationship in which addition of each protective factor reduces impact of risk on negative outcomes
Protective mechanism = interactive process that helps to identify multiplicative interactions or synergistic effects in which one variable potentiates the effect of another
What is the model of resiliency?
Operates indirectly to influence outcomes
What are the two types of delinquencies according to Moffitt?
Adolescence limited (i.e., criminal behaviour throughout adolescence but hen after transition not, seen as normative and caused by adolescence specific characteristics)
Life-course persistent (i.e., start during childhood but continue in adulthood, complex interaction of bio, individual, and environment causes this, most problematic for society)
What are the static individual risk factors influencing criminal recidivism in juveniles?
male gender, neuropsychological characteristics and intelligence
early age of onset, early age of conviction, length and intensity of delinquent career
What are the dynamic individual risk factors influencing criminal recidivism in juveniles?
several personality characteristics, conduct disorder, substance abuse, psychopathic traits
What are the static environmental risk factors influencing criminal recidivism in juveniles?
parental neglect, physical maltreatment, conflicts with parents, presence of a care or protection order
What are the dynamic environmental risk factors influencing criminal recidivism in juveniles?
poor social and econmic environment, living in disadvantaged neighbourhood, truancy, criminal peers
How is severity of recidivism defined?
frequency of offending, type of new offenses, or amount of harm caused
How high is the recidivism rate in juveniles?
80%
not higher in less serious juvenile delinquents
largely takes place within 2 years –> intervention best there
What is the YLS/CMI?
widely used instrument in adolescents that focuses on general offending, rather than violence specifically
applicable to 12-18 years, across gender and ethnicity
How is the reliability and validity of the YLS/CMI?
acceptable validity and reliability
can be used with other scales such as JSOAP (concurrent validity good)
most sophisticated and psychometrically sound risk assessment tool available to youths
What is the main limitation of YSM/CMI?
Less useful with females and ethnically heterogenous samples
What is the SAVRY?
recent structured professional judgement method to assess violent behaviour and recidivism
12-18 years of age applicable
includes protective + risk factors
How does SAVRY define positive protective factors?
Variables that reflect involvement with and commitment to conventional society, that control against nonnormative activities, and refer to activitites incompatible with normative transgression
What is a limitation of the SAVRY?
North-American based and not yet tested for non-americans
How is the SAVRY scored?
each risk factor is coded for severity on a 3 point scale + final level is examiner’s professional judgement (categorical) -> aid intervention and management decisions
composed of 24 risk items divided into 3 domains (historical, social/contextual, indiviudal/clincial) and protective domain (-> detection of change possible)
risk total score = numerically transforming and summing codes of low-high on the 24 risks into 0-2 respectively
Critical items = factors that the evaluator judges to be particularly important in influencing a given youth’s level of risk
How is the reliability and validity of the SAVRY?
Good validity and reliability
Highest incremental validity in prediciton of violence
strong correlations to YSL/CMI
relatively new –> not much testing done
predictive values for all domains except historical
risk socres related to institutional aggressive behaviour + conduct disorder symptoms
What was the outcome of comparative studies of SAVRY, YSL/CMI, and PCL:YV?
SAVRY better than PCL:YV and YSL/CMI + most economical choice
PCL:YV better than YSL/CMI
possibly PCL:YV + SAVRY better fit for higher risk adolescence
predictive accuarcy threatened when discordance among adult risk instruments
What is a unique aspect of the Dutch Juvenile Crimial Law and how effective?
possibility to sentence juveniles to compulsory treatment via forensic mental health assessment (what happens if no intervention)
applicable to ages 12-18 for 2-6 years
dentention sentenced recidivism: 30% vs mandatory treatment recidivism: 14% –> effective
What assessment tools are used for dutch law and limitations?
often unstructured clinical assessment –> do not have predictive validity for future recidivism
SAVRY could differentiate and relate to type of sentence imposed, but is time limited
- -> dynamic factors need to be revised every 6 months
- -> static risk factors need to be revised every year
