Study: Most Juveniles Mature And Outgrow Delinquent Behaviors

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Youth whose antisocial behavior persisted into early adulthood exhibited lower levels of psychosocial maturity in adolescence and deficits in development (i.e. arrested development) when compared with other antisocial youth, according to a bulletin released today by the Office of Justice Programs' Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

In Psychosocial Maturity and Desistance from Crime in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders, researchers found that the vast majority of juvenile offenders—even those who commit serious crimes—grow out of antisocial activity as they enter adulthood and assume the responsibilities of full-time employment, marriage and parenthood.  The bulletin is available at: http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248391.pdf.

The bulletin is part of the Pathways to Desistance study, which followed 1,354 young offenders from Philadelphia County, Penn., and Maricopa County, Ariz., for seven years after their adjudication.  The study represents the most comprehensive data set currently available about serious adolescent offenders and their lives in late adolescence and early adulthood.  Researchers examined factors that lead youth who have committed serious offenses to persist in or desist from offending. 

TITLE: Psychosocial Maturity and Desistance from Crime in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders

AUTHORS: Laurence Steinberg, Elizabeth Cauffman and Kathryn C. Monahan

PUBLISHER: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, www.ojjdp.gov

WHERE: http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248391.pdf

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.

SOURCE Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs

Related Links

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov

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