NCJ Number
178865
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: October 1999 Pages: 467-480
Date Published
1999
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Sentence completion and recidivism of juveniles referred to teen courts in Kentucky for disposition by their peers as an alternative to judicial sentencing were studied; more than 70 percent of the referrals completed their sentences, and just under one-third recidivated over a 1-year follow-up period.
Abstract
The participants were 234 juveniles referred to teen courts during 1994-97. Information was collected from case files and from Statewide computer files; 60.7 percent of the participants were male, that participants ranged from 10 to 18 years old and had a median age of 15.95, and that most offenses were property and public order offenses and were of low to moderate seriousness. Sentence data were available for 96.6 percent of the youths. Sentence completion was significantly less likely among the youths who were sentenced to community service than among other youths. In addition, recidivism was significantly higher among juveniles with prior records and those who were sentenced to curfews. Findings provided no empirically defensible rationale for regarding the teen court movement as a panacea that increases the rate of sentence completion and curtails the rate of recidivism in juvenile justice. Findings imply the need for teen courts to be guided by sound program development efforts based on research, so that they may circumvent the panacea phenomenon. Tables, notes, and 32 references (Author abstract modified)