Distinguishing homicide, violent sexual, and violent juvenile offending

Published date02 May 2017
Pages81-92
Date02 May 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-11-2016-0036
AuthorMichael T. Baglivio,Kevin T. Wolff
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice
Distinguishing homicide, violent sexual,
and violent juvenile offending
Michael T. Baglivio and Kevin T. Wolff
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine temperament differences, notably effortful control and negative
emotionality, and correlates that distinguish between homicide, violent sexual and other violent juvenile offenders.
Exploring heterogeneity among violent offenders is relevant to intervention strategies and policy implications.
Design/methodology/approach Demographic measures, temperament constructs and individual risk
factor indicators were assessed across 30,303 violent juvenile offenders (including 397 homicide offenders)
in Florida to assess their ability to distinguish among violent juvenile offender subgroups.
Findings Analyses demonstrated temperament constructs distinguish among classifications of violent
juvenile offenderswith effortful control differentiating homicide and violent sexual offenders fromother violent
offenders,and negative emotionalitydistinguishing violentsexual from other violentoffenders, with youth having
greater negativeemotionality and less effortfulcontrol being non-sexual violent offenders. Homicideoffenders
were more likelyto be older, male and had histories of gangmembership and weapon/firearm offending than
other violent offenders, and evidencedgreater negative emotionality than violent sexual offenders.
Originality/value The differences across violent youthful offender subtypes suggest heterogeneity among
violent offenders with distinct correlates more predictive of some subtypes than others. Additionally, the
temperament constructs of effortful control and negative emotionality are useful in distinguishing violent
offender subtypes, which points toward differing intervention/treatment strategies.
Keywords Temperament, Homicide juvenile offending, Pathological offending, Violent juvenile offending,
Violent offender heterogeneity, Violent sexual juvenile offending
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Minor delinquency is arguably a normative aspect of adolescent development, whereas violent
offending is far more uncommon (Giordano et al., 1986; Matza, 1964; Moffitt, 1993; Turanovic
and Young, 2016). In spite of its lower base rate, assumptions of homogeneity among violent
offenders may be unwarranted. As such, it is essential to examine the heterogeneity among
serious delinquents, lest practitioners and researchers (perhaps) mistakenly assume the risk
factors and correlates of violent offending are universal. Toward that end, the current study
examines the risk factors and correlates associated with homicide, violent sexual and non-sexual
violent offending among a large sample of juvenile offenders in Florida. While prior work has
examined differences across subgroups of violent offenders (DeLisi and Scherer, 2006;
DiCataldo and Everett, 2008; Wright et al., 2008), a focus on temperament differences among
violent juvenile offenders is absent from the extant literature. This is unfortunate as many
theoretical frameworks hypothesizing causes of offending incorporate temperamental concepts
(e.g. Agnew, 1992; Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990; Moffitt, 1993; Wilson and Herrnstein, 1985),
with recent work elucidating temperament as the exclusive explanatory construct of antisocial
behavior (DeLisi and Vaughn, 2014). The current study aims to address comparative
temperament differences among subgroups of violent juveniles using a sample much larger than
prior work, including 397 juveniles charged with homicide (26 of which were female).
While homicide committed by juveniles is relatively rare, between 2010 and 2014 approximately
7-8 percent of murders involved a juvenile offender (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP),2016; Sickmund and Puzzanchera,2014). With the average cost per murder
Received 1 November 2016
Revised 23 November 2016
Accepted 28 November 2016
Michael T. Baglivio is the
Director of Research and
Program Development at the
Department of Research and
Program Development, G4S
Youth Services, LLC, Tampa,
Florida, USA.
Kevin T. Wolff is an Assistant
Professor at the John Jay
College of Criminal Justice,
New York City, New York,
USA.
DOI 10.1108/JCP-11-2016-0036 VOL. 7 NO. 2 2017, pp. 81-92, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
PAG E 81

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