Distinguishing between Return to Juvenile versus Adult Prison in Juvenile Recidivism Analyses

• Author: David E. Olson,Jordan K. Boulger
• Published date: 01 June 2011
• Date: 01 June 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.13.1.2011.1
• Subject Matter: Article

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DistinguishingBetweenReturntoJuvenileVersus

 AdultPrisoninJuvenileRecidivismAnalyses

Jordan K. Boulger

Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

David E. Olson

Loyola University Chicago

* Abstract

Although considerable attention has been paid to the outcomes of adults released from

prison, a notable shortcoming of the evolving reentry literature is the minimal inclusion

of juveniles in recidivism analyses. Through an examination of administrative data col-

lected by the Illinois Department of Corrections for 1,894 youth released from Illinois

Youth Centers (IYC) in 2003, we sought to determine the rate at which juveniles were

returned to either an IYC or an adult prison within a six-year follow-up period, and

how youth demographic, legal, and social characteristics were predictive of return to

prison. The analyses found that approximately 45% of the youth were returned to a ju-

venile facility within six years, and when admission into an adult prison was included,

the recidivism rate increased to 62%. Logistic regression showed some consistencies

and differences in the relationship between youth characteristics and return to either a

juvenile or adult prison within the follow-up period.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2011

© 2011 Justice Research and Statistics Association

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Incarcerating juveniles has long been a controversial topic, with the focus of juve-

nile justice oscillating over the past 100 years between treatment and punishment.

Juveniles have gone from being seen as adults in smaller packaging to the more con-

temporary view of youth as emotionally, cognitively, and developmentally distinct

from adults, and therefore requiring different interventions. Nevertheless, society

has always felt some compulsion to lock up incorrigible youngsters, with reasons

ranging from teaching them the proverbial lesson and deterring them from com-

mitting more delinquent or criminal acts in the future, to the provision of treatment

within a secure setting, to simply incapacitating them for a period of time. Some

caution against the use of secure conf‌inement, however, raising the possibility that

instead of deterring youth from future criminal behavior, incarceration may promote

criminal behavior. Some have called prisons, adult and juvenile alike, “schools” for

criminality (see Walker, 1983), where inexperienced offenders receive tips and point-

ers from more seasoned criminals. Yet the fact remains that states still turn to the use

of incarceration as a response to many types of crimes committed by juveniles.

Illinois does not differ from the rest of America in this respect, as it is home

to a sizeable juvenile corrections system. But does this system actually correct, or

do juveniles sent to juvenile prisons in Illinois simply walk out of a revolving door,

only to f‌ind themselves back in state custody for another offense?

A considerable amount of research has focused on the outcomes of individu-

als in the adult corrections system, including countless reports and studies that

examine adult reentry and recidivism. A notable shortcoming of this dispropor-

tionate focus on the adult system is the relative scarcity of knowledge available

on the reentry and recidivism of juvenile offenders released from youth prisons.

Much of this is a result of the nature of the juvenile system itself: Juvenile records

are not public information, juvenile courts follow different procedures than adult

courts, and an individual’s juvenile records are separated from any subsequent

adult records. This separation of records by itself poses a substantial challenge to

most researchers. Many do not have the time, resources, or interagency relation-

ships necessary to connect juvenile criminal histories with adult criminal histories.

From a purely quantitative standpoint, the number of juveniles released from se-

cure custody in most jurisdictions is relatively small, thereby limiting the strength

and ability of statistical models to examine recidivism. Because of these shortcom-

ings, juveniles released from prison facilities remain a largely unstudied population

across the country. In this study, we seek to help f‌ill this gap in the literature by

examining recidivism of juveniles released from youth prisons in Illinois.

* Brief Background of Juvenile Justice in Illinois

The juvenile justice system in Illinois is similar to systems in other states. After

a case f‌lows through the juvenile system (arrest, delinquency petition, adjudica-

tion), there are some specif‌ic conditions under which the juvenile can be sent to