Skip to main content
Log in

More Alike than Different? Comparison of Formerly Incarcerated Youth with and Without Disabilities

  • REGULAR PAPER
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We describe and compare the demographic characteristics of incarcerated youth with and without disabilities. These data were gathered as part of a 5-year longitudinal study that examined the experiences of 531 incarcerated youth from Oregon’s juvenile justice system as they left the correctional system on parole and returned to the community. Data on the demographic characteristics of the sample were gathered from files and through interviews conducted while the sample was still in state custody. We compared the two groups on 22 selected variables. Statistical comparisons indicated that the two groups were similar on most variables. The final statistical model indicated that participants with disabilities were more likely to have flunked a grade while in school, been committed to the juvenile correctional system for a person-related crime, and to have been last adjudicated for a felony in an urban setting. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Benz M., Lindstrom L., & Latta T. (1999). Improving collaboration between schools and vocational rehabilitation: The youth transition program model. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 13, 55–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullis M. (1994). Investigation of the institution-to-community transition of adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. Funded grant proposal, Office of Special Education Programs, Field Initiated Research Studies.

  • Bullis M., & Fredericks H. D. (2002). Providing effective vocational/transition services to adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. Champaign-Urbana, IL: Research Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullis M., & Yovanoff P. (1997). Return to close custody: Analysis of the Oregon Youth Authority’s data set. Eugene, OR, Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, University of Oregon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullis M., Yovanoff P., & Havel E. (2004). The importance of getting started right: Further examination of the community engagement of formerly incarcerated youth. The Journal of Special Education, 38, 80–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullis M., Yovanoff P., Mueller G., & Havel E. (2002). Life on the “outs’’ —Examination of the facility-to-community transition of incarcerated adolescents. Exceptional Children, 69, 7–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler M. (1973). Egocentricism and antisocial behavior: The assessment and training of social perspective skills. Developmental Psychology, 9, 326–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders. (1989). Position paper on the provision of service to children with conduct disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 15, 180–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dryfoos J. (1990). Adolescents at risk. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elam S., Rose L., & Gallup A. (1994). The 26th Annual Phi Delta Kappan Gallup poll of the public’s attitudes toward the public schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 26, 42–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrington D., & Loeber R. (2000). Some benefits of dichotomization in psychiatric and criminological research. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 10, 100–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley R. (2001). Academic characteristics of incarcerated youth and correctional education programs: A literature review. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 9, 248–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forness S., & Kavale K. (1993). The balkanization of special education: Proliferation of categories and subcategories for “new” disorders, In J. Marr G. Sugai, & G. Tindal (Eds.), The Oregon Conference monograph (pp. ix–xv). Eugene, OR: College of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henggler S. (1989). Delinquency in adolescence. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs N. (1975). Issues in the classification of children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingshead A. (1975). Four factor index of social status. New Haven, CN: Yale University, Department of Sociology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer D., & Lemeshow S. (2000). Applied logistic regression (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koop C. E., & Lundberg G. (1992). Violence in America: A public health emergency: Time to bite the bullet back. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267, 3075–3076.

    Google Scholar 

  • D. L. MacKenzie, & E. Hebert (Eds.). (1996). Correctional boot camps: A tough intermediate sanction. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menhard S. (1990). Longitudinal research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson C. M., Center D., Rutherford R. B., & Walker H. M. (1991). Serving troubled youth in a troubled society: A reply to Maag and Howell. Exceptional Children, 58, 77–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudas T. (1998). Odds ratios in the analysis of contingency tables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford R., Bullis M., Wheeler Anderson C., & Griller H. (2002). Youth with special education disabilities in the correctional system: Prevalence rates and identification issues. College Park, MD: University of Maryland, The National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson B. (1999). Improving research clarity and usefulness with effect size indices as supplements to statistical significance tests. Exceptional Children, 65, 329–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner M. (1991). Dropouts with disabilities: What do we know? What can we do? Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker S. (1994). Sense and nonsense about crime and drugs (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman J., Rich W., Keilitz I., & Broder P. (1981). Some observations on the link between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency. Journal of Criminal Justice, 9, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Bullis Ph.D..

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bullis, M., Yovanoff, P. More Alike than Different? Comparison of Formerly Incarcerated Youth with and Without Disabilities. J Child Fam Stud 14, 127–139 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-1127-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-005-1127-7

KEY WORDS:

Navigation