Youth Who Received Informal Handling/Supervision in 2006

DCJ Quality & Evaluation ServicesApril 2009

Prepared by: Liang Wu, Sr. Research AnalystCharlene Rhyne, PhD, Manager

2

Juvenile Justice Involvement for Youth Who Received informal Supervision in 2006

92 had formal supervision between 2006 and March 2009

114 had warning between 2006 and March 2009

271 did not have warning or formal probation. They were the

“Informal-only’ youth

526 youth who had Informal as their

referral’s first action in 2006

49 youth had both warning

and formal probation

3

Age at Time of Informal

• average = 15.4 years; median = 16 years

Age group # of youth

13 years or under 33

14 years old 45

15 years old 51

16 years old 61

17 years old 62

18 years old 19

Total 271

Age Distribution at Time of Informal

18 years old7%

17 years old23%

16 years old22%

15 years old19%

14 years old17%

13 or under12%

4

Gender Distribution

Gender Distribution of Youth Placed on Informal Supervision

0 50 100 150 200 250

Female

Male

# of youth 70 201

Female Male

74%

26%

5

Race/Ethnicity Distribution

Race/Ethnicity # of Youth

American Indian/Alaskan

Native 5

Asian 8

Black 61

Hispanic 39

White 150

Unknown/Other 8

Total 271

Race/Ethnicity Distribution of Youth Placed on Informal

American Indian/Alaskan

Native2%

Asian3%

Black23%

Hispanic14%

White55%

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Law Type # of youth % of youth

Felony 70 25.8

Misdemeanor 194 71.6

Violation 4 1.5

Other 3 1.1

Total 271 100

Allegation Law Type of the Informal Trigger Referral

7

Law category # of youth % of youth

Person 84 31.0

Property 131 48.3

Behavioral 45 16.6

Other 11 4.1

Total 271 100

Allegation Law Category of the Informal Trigger Referral

8

Age at 1st dependency referral # of youth % of youth

5 years old or younger 22 40.0

between 6 and 10 years old 24 43.6

11 years or older 9 16.4

Total 55 100

Age at 1st Dependency Referral

• 55 = 20.3% of Informal only sample

• Average age at 1st dependency referral= 6.4 years

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Referral Type N %

criminal referral 276 66.3%

violation 25 6.0%

status referral 58 13.9%

dependency referral 56 13.5%

Other 1 0.2%

Total 416 100%

Total Referrals* Incurred Prior to Informal Supervision

*excluding trigger referral. A youth could have more than one referrals

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Number of Referral Youth had Prior to Informal

Percent of Youth Who Had Pre-Informal Referrals

No prior referral, 43.2%

2 prior referrals, 11.8%

3 or more prior referrals, 19.9%

1 prior referral, 25.1%

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Most Serious Referral Youth Had Prior to Informal

61%

45%

11.8%

43.2%

Type of Referral Incurred Prior to Informal

122

117

32

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

No prior referral

Other referral

Criminal referral 45%

43%

12%

12

New Criminal Referrals After Informal Actions

Youth Re-offense Status After Informal (N=271)

202214

0

50

100

150

200

250

Within 1 Year Within 2 Years

Not recidivated Recidivated

79.0%

21.0%

74.5%

25.5%

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1st Re-referral Law Type and Category

% of Recidivated Youth in Each Category (N=57)

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

# of new referrals Referral law type Referral law category

1 referral

2 referrals

3 +

Misdemeanor

Felony

Property offense

Behavioral

Person

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Prior Referral Records and Recidivism

Differences for total prior referrals and # of prior criminal referrals between recidivated and non-recidivated youth are statistically significant

Average Number of Pre-informal Referrals

2.8

0.70.4

2.0

0.61.2

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Total referrals CriminalRef Status&DepRef

Recidivated Non-recidivated

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Age at Referral and Informal Action by Re-offense Status

Differences for Age at 1st criminal referral are statistically significant

Average Age of Youth

15.2

13.5

5.7

15.514.6

6.6

0

4

8

12

16

Age at informal Age at 1st criminalreferral

Age at 1st dependencyor status referral

Youth Recidivated Youth Not Recidivated

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Recidivism by Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Recidivism by Gender & Race/Ethnicity

92.9%

73.8%

74.4%

80.7%

79.1%

78.6%

7.1%

26.2%

25.6%

19.3%

20.9%

21.4%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Other Minority

Black

Hispanic

White

Male

Female

% Not Recidivated % Recidivated

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Risk Factors by Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Percent of Youth Having Risk Factor

Risk Factors Male Female White Non-White

Had prior criminal referral 44.3% 47.1% 40.0% 51.2%

Had prior dependency referral 15.9% 21.4% 16.0% 19.0%

Had any prior referral 56.2% 58.6% 54.0% 60.3%

Had informal at 13 or less 13.4% 8.6% 13.3% 10.7%

Had 1st criminal referral at 13 or less 31.8% 31.4% 28.7% 35.5%

Had 1st dependency referral at 6 or less 8.0% 12.9% 8.7% 9.9%

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Recidivism Rate by Risk Factors

*Statistically significant at level of 0.05

Recidivism Rate by Risk Factors or Youth Attributes

Risk Factors Or Youth Attributes % recidivated % not recidivate

Had prior criminal referral*Yes 36.1% 63.9%

No 8.7% 91.3%

Had prior dependency referralYes 23.4% 76.6%

No 20.5% 79.5%

Had any prior referral*Yes 31.2% 68.8%

No 7.7% 92.3%

Had informal at 13 or lessYes 9.1% 90.9%

No 22.7% 77.3%

Had 1st criminal referral at 13 or less*Yes 30.2% 69.8%

No 16.8% 83.2%

Had 1st dependency referral at 6 or less

Yes 28.0% 72.0%

No 20.3% 79.7%

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• Of 271 youth who received informal during 2006, • Excluding referrals associated with informal, the average number of

referrals prior to informal action was 1.5. • 45% had criminal referral prior to informal,• 5.2% had violation or status referral• 6.6% had dependency referral• 43.2% did not have pre-informal juvenile justice involvement so the

referral that triggered informal was their first referral. • 57 (21.0%) had at least one new criminal referral within one year of

informal. • Additional 4.4% of youth recidivated within 24-months of informal

• Preliminary analysis indicates that age at 1st criminal referral, and average number of total referrals prior to informal had statistically significant impact on recidivism

Summary