Exploring the Effects of Mental Health Needs on Intermittency Among Justice-Involved Youth

• Author: Nan Li,Sascha Hein,Diana Quintana,Matthew Shelton,Elena L. Grigorenko
• Published date: 01 August 2022
• Date: 01 August 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221085496
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 8, August 2022, 1173 –1191.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221085496

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1173

EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF MENTAL

HEALTH NEEDS ON INTERMITTENCY AMONG

JUSTICE-INVOLVED YOUTH

NAN LI

University of Houston

SASCHA HEIN

Freie Universität Berlin

DIANA QUINTANA

MATTHEW SHELTON

Harris County Juvenile Probation Department

ELENA L. GRIGORENKO

University of Houston

Baylor College of Medicine

This study aimed to (a) reliably obtain intermittency periods (i.e., time gaps between incarcerations) using days as the unit

of time and (b) investigate the effects of mental health needs assessed during the first incarceration on the hazard of subse-

quent reincarcerations among justice-involved youth (JIY). The multiyear administrative data from Harris County, TX,

contained 28,255 JIY who were followed up until 18 years of age. There was a progressive shortening of the time gaps

between incarcerations over time. Results of conditional Cox models revealed that mental health needs had sustained, though

weakened, effects on future intermittency periods. An increased reincarceration risk (shorter intermittent intervals between

incarcerations) was associated with higher self-reported ratings of Alcohol/Drug Use and Angry-Irritable. A decreased rein-

carceration risk (longer intermittent intervals between incarcerations) was associated with higher self-reported ratings of

Depression/Anxiety and Somatic Complaints. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: survival analysis; criminal career; intermittency; mental health; PWP model; incarceration

It has been recognized that individuals show irregular offending behavior. In his seminal

work, Matza (1964) noted that individuals who engage in delinquent behavior are

“casually, intermittently, and transiently immersed in a pattern of illegal action” (p. 28),

suggesting that criminal activity entails stops and starts over a criminal career. Observations

of variable temporary suspensions from criminal activity within a criminal career

AUTHORS’ NOTE: We thank Joslyn Cavitt for her editorial assistance with this article. Different data from

the same sample have been used in previous publications. This research was supported by the Eunice

Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (P20HD091005; PI: Elena L.

Grigorenko). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elena L. Grigorenko, TIMES,

University of Houston, 4349 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Houston, TX 77204-6022; e-mail: elena.grigo-

renko@times.uh.edu.

1085496CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221085496Criminal Justice and BehaviorLi et al. / MENTAL HEALTH AND INTERMITTENCY

research-article2022

1174 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

challenge conventional ways of conceptualizing desistance (Carlsson, 2012; van Koppen

et al., 2020). A change from offending to permanent nonoffending is central to desistance

(Bushway et al., 2001). Relatedly, desistance is viewed as a gradual process wherein time

gaps between offenses increase until the permanent termination of criminal activity; how-

ever, at what point the permanent termination occurs remains ambiguous. According to

Farrington (1986), “even a five-year or ten-year crime-free period is no guarantee that

offending has terminated” (p. 201). As a result, some scholars have focused on studying

intermittency, which represents the lulls or time gaps between consecutive offenses

(Piquero, 2004). Intermittency is different from desistance as it does not involve a perma-

nence of nonoffending. Yet, intermittency is closely related to desistance because longer

time gaps between offenses imply a process toward desistance, which may eventually

result in the termination of a criminal career (Metcalfe & Baker, 2014). Given the unique

nature of intermittency, it has been proposed to be a crucial dimension of a criminal

career, and is as important as onset, persistence, and desistance, which are central to

developmental/life-course criminology (DLC; Baker et al., 2015).

In recent years, a growing body of qualitative and quantitative research has been con-

ducted to characterize intermittency (Baker et al., 2015; Carlsson, 2012; DeShay & Vieraitis,

2019; Metcalfe & Baker, 2014; Metcalfe et al., 2019; Ouellet, 2019; van Koppen et al.,

2020), but only a handful of quantitative studies have explored risk factors that are related

to intermittency (Baker et al., 2015; Metcalfe & Baker, 2014; Metcalfe et al., 2019). Indeed,

nascent studies of intermittency are characterized by relatively little theoretical and empiri-

cal groundwork as compared with other topics in DLC (Baker et al., 2015). A comprehen-

sive understanding of the relationships between various dynamic risk factors such as mental

health problems and intermittency would underscore the importance of intermittency in

DLC, and, more importantly, would inform interventions and policies for rehabilitation.

Moreover, existing quantitative research has overwhelmingly used a “coarse-meshed time

scale” (van Koppen et al., 2020, p. 5)—months—as the unit of time to approximate the

intermittent intervals between offenses, which may attenuate the reliability of intermittency

periods and may eventually dilute the impact of risk factors on intermittency.

Using longitudinal data provided by the Harris County (Greater Houston area, Texas)

Juvenile Probation Department (HCJPD), the current study aimed to advance the existing

literature by investigating the effects of mental health needs assessed during the first incar-

ceration of justice-involved youth (JIY) on subsequent intermittency periods between incar-

cerations up to 18 years of age. The present study features: (a) a more reliable estimation

of intermittency periods using court records that contain specific dates for incarceration and

discharge; (b) an extended list of risk factors related to intermittency that includes mental

health needs; and (c) the application of survival analysis techniques to explore the relation-

ship between mental health needs and intermittency while taking chronicity into account.

INTERMITTENCY AS A UNIQUE DIMENSION OF CRIMINAL CAREER

Piquero (2004) defined intermittency as “a temporary abstinence from criminal activity

during a particular period of time only to be followed by a resumption of criminal activity

after a particular period of time” (p. 108). Empirically, intermittency can be operationalized

as exposure time, or “time for which individuals are free on the street to commit crime”

(Piquero, 2004, p. 108). The sporadic periods of abstinence from offending arguably results