U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Protective Factors and Strength-Based Services: Impacts on Long-Term Youth Reoffending

NCJ Number
310476
Date Published
April 2025
Length
8 pages
Annotation

This brief is the second in a series that shares key findings from the Youth Protective Factors Study, to inform juvenile justice supervision, case planning, and service strategies aimed at improving public safety and youth outcomes.

Abstract

This paper presents background information and key findings from the Youth Protective Factors Study. The study looked at youth from ages 10 to 23 years who were in the juvenile justice system, in order to determine which protective factors and strength-based services were most significant when it came to reoffending. The survey examined four areas with nine specific measures,  with the goal of reducing youth recidivism: prosocial identity, prosocial engagement, social support, and self-control and self-efficacy. The key findings and their implications, that are discussed in this paper, include: protective factors matter for predicting long-term violent reoffending; high-risk youth were no more likely than lower-risk youth to get strength-based services; and youth who participated in strength-based services were more likely to reoffend post-supervision, including violent reoffending, than youth who did not receive such services.

Date Published: April 1, 2025