Papers to note: Screening Juvenile Offenders for Further Assessment and Intervention

05/11/2007

The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has�published on its web site�the findings of a�long-term study of nearly 400 juvenile offenders placed on their first supervised order in 2000/2001. "Screening Juvenile Offenders for Further Assessment and Intervention", by Don Weatherburn, Rachel Cush and Paula Saunders was�first published in the August edition of�BOCSAR's�Crime and Justice Bulletin>

Among the findings:

• Only a third were still at school at the time they committed their index offence. More than a third had been suspended or expelled from school.
• More than two-thirds had changed address three or more times in the last five years.
• Seventy-one per cent of juvenile offenders were reconvicted of a further offence within four years.
• The key risk factors are those associated with school attendance/behaviour and past contact with the criminal justice system. Not being at school, having been suspended or expelled from school and having had several prior contacts with the criminal justice system all independently increase the likelihood of another conviction.

View the report >

5 November 2007