Great Expectations: The Importance of Procedural Justice and Parenting for Perceptions of Success Among Youth on Probation

• Published date: 01 January 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231206837
• Author: Adam D. Fine,Rebecca L. Fix,Juan Del Toro,Dylan B. Jackson
• Date: 01 January 2024

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2024, Vol. 51, No. 1, January 2024, 127 –147.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231206837

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2023 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

127

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The Importance of Procedural Justice and Parenting

for Perceptions of Success Among Youth on Probation

ADAM D. FINE

Arizona State University

REBECCA L. FIX

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

JUAN DEL TORO

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

DYLAN B. JACKSON

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Juvenile probation can be a critical inflection point. As such, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are interested in

enhancing youths’ success on probation, especially pertaining to reducing recidivism and promoting their success in educa-

tion and employment. Informed by the risk–need–responsivity framework, the present study examined how theoretically

derived familial/peer (e.g., social bonds, parental monitoring), societal/community (e.g., labeling theory), and individual-

level (e.g., impulsivity, procedural justice) factors were associated with youths’ expectations for success on probation as well

as more general life course outcomes. Within samples of youth starting probation (N= 301) and 6 months into probation

(N= 253), we combined cross-sectional data from the jurisdiction’s risk/needs tool with a self-reported survey from youth.

Youths’ perceptions of parental monitoring and procedural justice were consistently associated with their self-expectations

for completing probation. However, for more general life course success, only perceptions of parental monitoring promoted

self-expectations. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.

Keywords: expectations; possible selves; juvenile probation; social bonds; labeling theory; procedural justice

Juvenile probation was developed to provide an alternative to incarceration that enables

supervision of youth within their community and, ideally, promotion of youth rehabilitation

and growth. Outcomes of particular interest to researchers and probation officials include youth

AUTHORS’ NOTE: None of the analyses in the current article appear in other publications and they have not

been disseminated at any academic conferences. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Materials and

analysis code for this study are available by emailing the corresponding author. We thank the youth and families

for voluntarily participating and sharing their experiences, as well as the jurisdiction for enabling this project.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Adam D. Fine, School of Criminology and

Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, 411 North Central Avenue, Suite 633, Phoenix, AZ 85004; e-mail:

adfine@asu.edu.

1206837CJBXXX10.1177/00938548231206837Criminal Justice and BehaviorFine et al. / Great Expectations

research-article2023

128 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

recidivism, education, and employment. Although recidivism rates among youth on probation

can vary widely, educational outcomes such as high school graduation rates are markedly lower

for youth on probation (13%) compared with those not on probation (over 75%) (McCurly

et al., 2017). In addition, legal system involvement in general can negatively affect youths’

employment prospects (Callahan et al., 2012; Heilbrun et al., 2017). It is no surprise, then, that

researchers and practitioners alike are interested in enhancing youths’ success on probation,

especially reducing recidivism and promoting youths’ education and employment.

Developmental scientists view adolescence as a time of self-discovery, growth, and

defining oneself (Erikson, 1959; James, 1910). It is normative for adolescents to explore a

variety of roles and behaviors before settling on their identity (Markus & Nurius, 1986;

Oyserman & Markus, 1990). Critically, a youth’s personal expectations for their future

affects how the youth approaches the world and in what behaviors they engage (Oyserman

& Markus, 1990b; Paternoster & Bushway, 2009). While researchers have demonstrated

that youth with legal system involvement have varying expectations for themselves and

such expectations are linked to their propensity to engage in delinquency (Carroll et al.,

2011; Goodson & Morash, 2017; Iselin et al., 2012; Oyserman & Markus, 1990a), research-

ers have not adequately identified the factors that create or promote these expectations

among youth involved in the juvenile legal system.

In the current study, we focused on youths’ expectations for their own success during and

following probation. We were interested in whether such perceptions might inform the risk–

need–responsivity (RNR) framework that jurisdictions use to help them predict youths’ risk

for reoffending (Andrews & Bonta, 2014; Ward et al., 2007) and the extent to which the

factors actually contribute to the youth’s self-expectations. In the following sections, we

review the literature on identity formation during adolescence, juvenile probation practices,

and theoretical perspectives on enhancing youth success.

ADOLESCENCE AND IDENTITY

Since the middle of the 20th century, developmental scientists have considered adoles-

cence to be a unique developmental period marked by a time of self-discovery and of defin-

ing oneself (Erikson, 1959; James, 1910). It is normative for youth to engage in some

risk-taking behaviors as the developmental period includes notably heightened sensation

seeking (Steinberg et al., 2018). However, these behaviors are typically ephemeral; devel-

opmental science demonstrates youth customarily explore a variety of roles and behaviors,

including making mistakes and engaging in minor forms of maladaptive behaviors, before

settling on their identity (Steinberg et al., 2018).

Within this space, Markus and Nurius (1986) proposed the notion of possible selves,

referring to the youth’s beliefs about the type of person they could become. Possible selves

may be positive such as “a college graduate” or “a good father,” but they may also be nega-

tive selves such as “a high school dropout” or “a bad or absent father.” The possible selves

framework suggests that people behave in ways that conform to their internalized, mental

images of the person they expect to become (Hoyle & Sherrill, 2006). As the future-oriented

component of the self-concept (Oyserman & Markus, 1990b), future expectations motivate

one’s behaviors in the present. As Oyserman and Markus (1990a) explained,

It is the sense of oneself in a desired end-state–me with an exciting job or me with a happy

family–that organizes and energizes actions in the pursuit of the end-state. The sense of oneself