|
Year Awarded: 2008
Project Leaders:
Timothy Bynum, Criminal Justice, Zaje Harrell, Psychology (Ecological-Community), Maureen Winslow, Ingham County Court (30th Judicial Circuit Court, Family Division)
Project Description:
The extant literature suggests a numerical minority of juvenile offenders commit the majority of offenses through repeat offending. Researchers have also demonstrated that these offenders share identifiable characteristics, known as risk factors that set them apart from law-abiding citizens. However, practitioners have been hampered by limited validation of risk assessments with diverse samples and the failure of risk assessments to incorporate macro-level factors into risk models. In that context researchers at MSU in partnership with the Ingham County Court have agreed to conduct a retrospective community-based research study with a 36-month follow-up, utilizing two samples of young offenders assessed for recidivism risk with the YLS/CMI. This study will be a multilevel analysis of the relationship between juvenile recidivism, person-level risk factors (assessed using the YLS/CMI) and neighborhood socio-economic indicators for the respective samples. This study will also use cluster analytic techniques to identify patterns/combinations of risks that are prevalent in the samples. These relationships will then be spatially represented on maps of the sample area, similar to crime maps. This study will provide insight into the relationship between neighborhood settings, risk patterns and recidivism risk; thus illustrating the necessity of considering macro-level criminogenic factors, endemic to geographically localized subgroups. The maps generated by this study regarding patterns of risk by neighborhood location will also be useful for city management and community development. Finally this information can be useful in reducing disproportionate minority contact with the justice system, through the use of objective risk assessments in the processing of juveniles.
|
