A Follow-Up Study on Recidivism among Adjudicated Juveniles with Special Education in the Juvenile Correctional Facility
| Author | Gregory C. Rocheleau,Taiping Ho |
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225420923764 |
923764YJJ0010.1177/1473225420923764Youth JusticeHo and Rocheleau
research-article2020
Original Article
Youth Justice
2020, Vol. 20(3) 328 –343
A Follow-Up Study on Recidivism
© The Author(s) 2020
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among Adjudicated Juveniles with
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225420923764
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Special Education in the Juvenile
Correctional Facility
Taiping Ho and Gregory C. Rocheleau
Abstract
This study examines recidivism among adjudicated juveniles in special education programs in the juvenile
correctional facility during the period of 2009–2015. There were two aims of this research: to conduct
exploratory analyses of recidivism and to examine whether level of education relates to recidivism among
this segment of juvenile offenders. Results revealed that 37.6 % of adjudicated juveniles with special education
recidivated and that 52 % of those who recidivated were recommitted within 12 months of being released.
Results from logistic regression also show that education failed to significantly predict recidivism once other
factors were controlled for in multivariate analyses.
Keywords
adjudicated juvenile, juvenile offender, juvenile recidivism, special education
Introduction
Today, juvenile correctional administrators and practitioners have coped with an array of
complex problems such as learning disabilities, substance abuse problems, or mental
health issues among incarcerated juveniles in juvenile residential settings (Chen, 2016;
Church et al., 2015; Craig et al., 2019; Jennings et al., 2016; Thompson and Morris, 2016;
White, 2016). Due to the complexities of educational needs and behavioral concerns
among adjudicated juveniles, the juvenile correctional facility needs to establish a com-
prehensive program to improve the success of juvenile reentry and to reduce the post-
release recidivism. For incarcerated juveniles, juvenile correctional education is an
essential component for successful reentry into the community upon release. Research
indicates that correctional juvenile education programs would, directly or indirectly,
Corresponding author:
Gregory C. Rocheleau, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Ball State University, 2000 W University Ave.,
Muncie, IN 47306, USA.
Email: gcrocheleau@bsu.edu
Ho and Rocheleau
329
enhance the youth’s social, cognitive, and life skills after release from the juvenile cor-
rectional facility (Gemignani, 1994; Howell, 1998; Platt et al., 2006). However, there is a
need to examine the extent to which such educational programs are effective in terms of
reducing recidivism, particularly among subgroups of the population who may be in need
of more extensive and intensive education than can typically be provided in a temporary
correctional setting where resources are scarce. Using data from the Indiana Department
of Corrections (IDOC), this study explores recidivism rates among juvenile offenders in
special education and examines whether education relates to recidivism with this special
population.
Literature Review
Starting in the 1980s, a wave of legislation passed across the United States as a means to
address a dramatic increase in juvenile crimes. Accordingly, state laws across the United
States made it easier to give judges an array of sentencing options such as adjudication to
a juvenile correctional facility in order to hold juveniles accountable for criminal behavior
and to protect the public’s safety. Consequently, there was a dramatic increase in the num-
ber of youth adjudicated to placement in residential or correctional facilities across states
in 1990s. More recently, juvenile arrest rates declined almost 60 % for the age group of
15–17 years during the period of 2008–2017. According to the most recent arrest data
from Statistical Briefing Book, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP, 2019), approximately 30 % of an estimated 10.5 million arrests in 2017 by US
law enforcement agencies were in the age group of 15–24 years.
Adjudicated juveniles have encountered numerous challenges when they have admit-
ted to the juvenile correctional facility. Research has found that juveniles in correctional
facilities have substantially poorer cognitive functioning compared to the general popula-
tion, with studies often finding that youth in correctional facilities score so low that they
qualify as having learning disabilities (Baltodano et al., 2005; Foley, 2001; Lansing et al.,
2014). Furthermore, research has also indicated that having a learning disability is the
most prevalent type of disability among juvenile offenders in the juvenile correctional
facilities (Platt et al., 2006; Quinn et al., 2005; Richards and Ellem, 2019; Slaughter et al.,
2019). In fact, studies focusing on detained juveniles in US populations generally find that
about 40 % of youth in juvenile correctional facilities have a learning disability, with emo-
tional disturbance being the most frequent designation (Cruise et al., 2011).
Indeed, having a learning disability is a significant risk factor to offending and reoff-
ending for youth. The linkage between learning disability and juvenile delinquency has
been extensively studied and the prevalence of learning disability is significantly higher
among adjudicated juveniles than non-justice-involved juveniles (Defoe et al., 2013;
Dowse et al., 2014; Evans et al., 2015; Mallett, 2014; Molina et al., 2014). Youth who
have a learning disability have been found to come into contact with the juvenile justice
system earlier, receive longer probation supervision, and are more likely to recidivate
compared to those without a learning disability (Mallett et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2011a).
Among juveniles with learning disabilities, African Americans and males are particularly
likely to reoffend compared to others (Zhang et al., 2011b). However, despite the large
330
Youth Justice 20(3)
percentage of juveniles in correctional facilities with learning disabilities, there has been
little investigation into whether other risk factors that are traditionally associated with
recidivism among the general population are also important for those with learning
disabilities.
Research has identified a number of risk factors found to be associated with recidivism
among juveniles. For instance, research has found that past involvement in criminality,
age of first offense, having a conduct or mental health disorders, having family risk fac-
tors (i.e. family disruption, substance use, poor supervision, monitoring, and relation-
ships), associating with deviant peers, and community disadvantage (Intravia et al., 2017;
Mallett et al., 2012; Mulder et al., 2010). Moreover, research on among juvenile offenders
has also found several demographic correlates to recidivism. For example, males have
consistently been reported to have higher rates of recidivism than females (Minor et al.,
2008). In addition, there appears to be some variability in terms of specific risk factors of
recidivism for males and females (McReynolds et al., 2010). With respect to race, the
picture is less clear. Some studies find that White juvenile offenders report lower rates of
recidivism compared to African American juvenile offenders (Barrett and Katsiyannis,
2015), while other research finds no differences in recidivism by race once background
factors are accounted for (Conrad et al., 2014; Mbuba, 2005).
Educational deficiency, however, is generally regarded as one of the major risk factors
to delinquent or criminal behavior among juveniles (Barnert et al., 2015; Leverso et al.,
2015; Smeets, 2014; Ungar et al., 2014; Williams et al., 2014). Quite often, educational
deficiency among adjudicated juveniles or young adult offenders has prevented them
from a suitable employment or becoming self-sufficient. The impact of educational defi-
ciency on recidivism is significant. Research indicates that educationally illiterate ex-
offenders are likely disproportionally unemployed (Lockwood et al., 2015; Nally et al.,
2013; Steurer and Smith, 2003; Winterfield et al., 2009). Subsequently, the recidivism rate
among those educationally illiterate ex-offenders is significantly high. For example, a
recent study found that the recidivism rate among ex-offenders who had a college educa-
tion was 31 %, but the recidivism rate was 56 % among ex-offenders who did not complete
high school prior to release from the prison (Lockwood et al., 2015).
Education may be a particularly relevant risk factor for juveniles with learning disa-
bilities. Quite often education deficiency, which is commonly associated with school
dropout or delinquent behavior, is the most challenging issue among adjudicated juve-
niles (Peguero et al., 2019; Tan et al., 2018). Education may be particularly crucial for
juveniles with learning disabilities, as learning disabilities are closely related to aca-
demic incompetency or school dropout among adolescents, and school dropout is one
of the major contributing factors to delinquent or criminal behavioral among adoles-
cents (Jarrett et al., 2014; Kliewer and Lepore, 2015; Morris et al., 2011). Moreover,
education for juvenile offenders with learning disabilities may also be especially crucial
as these youth likely have greater educational deficiencies and needs compared to oth-
ers. On the other hand, the deficiencies and needs may be so great, the academic ceiling
may be too...
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