Research on Pathways to Desistance
Published Dec 9, 2009, Research Update Created for the Fourth Annual Models for Change National Working Conference
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Juveniles can commit serious and sometimes violent offenses, from felony burglary to murder.. But only a minority of these serious offenders will go on to a lifetime of repeated crime; the rest will have relatively little involvement in illegal activity. Nevertheless, they present a challenge to the juvenile justice system. And they fuel an ongoing debate among professionals and in society at large.
The sanctions applied to serious juvenile offenders vary widely from one jurisdiction to the next. Even within a given jurisdiction, different youths may receive very different sanctions for similar offenses. Some will spend time in a secure facility, where they may (or may not) receive a range of services. Some are put on probation, with or without a treatment program. Others are sentenced to community service.
How do these sanctions and services affect the trajectories of the offenders’ lives? And what measures could put them on a more positive path? Answering these questions could help us write better policy, make better use of scarce resources, and better serve both the young offenders and the communities in which they live.
That is the impetus behind Pathways to Desistance, a large, multi-site, collaborative project following 1,354 juvenile offenders for seven years after their conviction.1 Pathways is the most intense look to date at the outcomes of sanctions and services – feedback that is rarely available to decision-makers in the juvenile justice system.
The ongoing study already has published some important findings:
- Adolescents who become involved in serious crimes are not a particular “type” but a heterogeneous group, much like their nonoffending peers. The differences among them are seldom considered by courts, nor are they translated by service providers into different types of intervention.
- Nothing in the basic psychological or social characteristics of these adolescents strongly predicts which will go on to a lifetime of crime and which will curtail their offending after court involvement.
- Longer stays in juvenile facilities do not appear to reduce offending. However, continued probation supervision and community-based services provided after a youth is released do make a difference, at least in the six months following release.
- Substance abuse is a major factor in continued criminal activity. Treating substance abuse can reduce subsequent offending.
Pathways is a unique study in the field of juvenile justice: in its goals, its subjects, its longitudinal nature, its comprehensive scope, and its findings. These and other aspects of the project are explored in more detail on the following pages.
