Recidivism Patterns Among Two Types of Juvenile Homicide Offenders: A 30 Year Follow Up Study
Although juvenile homicide has been a matter of concern in the United States since the 1980s, prior research has not addressed long term recidivism patterns for convicted juvenile murderers. Furthermore, a prominent juvenile homicide typology had not previously been tested with U.S. offenders. The present study examined whether juvenile offenders who killed or attempted to kill during the commission of a crime differed from those who killed due to some type of conflict on pre incarceration, incarceration, and post incarceration variables. These offenders were sentenced to adult prison in the early 1980s. Follow up data spanned 30 years. The results indicated that approximately 88% of released offenders have been rearrested. Analyses of pre incarceration variables revealed that crime oriented offenders were significantly more likely to commit the homicide offense using accomplices than conflict oriented offenders, and the latter were significantly more likely to use a firearm during the homicide incident. The circumstances of the homicide, however, were not significantly related to any other pre incarceration variables, release from prison, number of post release arrests, and number of post release violent offenses. The implications of the findings, their comparability to previous follow up research on this typology, and avenues for future research are discussed.
International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology