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Sometimes they Come Back: Recidivism and the Adult Imprisonment of Formerly Incarcerated Serious And Violent Juvenile Offenders

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Abstract

This study examines the adult imprisonment outcomes of a cohort of serious and violent juvenile offenders released from Texas state juvenile correctional facilities during their transition from adolescence to early adulthood. We distinguish incarceration in the adult prison system as resulting from a new offense or as the result of a revocation for a technical supervision violation. Of the sample (n = 709), 37% were incarcerated in Texas’ adult prison system within two years following their release from state juvenile incarceration—16% were incarcerated for a new offense and 21% were incarcerated for revocation as a result of a technical violation of supervision. Results indicate that race, being a sexual offender, gang affiliate, engaging in violent institutional misconduct as a juvenile ward, being under supervised release, and age at initial juvenile incarceration were determinants of adult incarceration for any reason. Similar determinants of incarceration were found examining incarceration for offenders released under community supervision. Prior placements as a juvenile and gang affiliation were correlated with incarceration for a new offense. Research and policy implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that in the Boulger and Olson (2011) article, age at release from juvenile authorities was a consideration in that some offenders who recidivated and were re-incarcerated could be eligible for re-incarceration in a juvenile and/or an adult facility, depending on their age. In this study, we examine only incarceration in the state’s adult prison setting.

  2. The sample started with 782 subjects, but several limitations reduced the analytic sample from 782 to 709. The decision to drop cases were based on the following: Nine observations lacked enough information to develop variables of interest, two subjects were released from juvenile custody as decedents, five observations included data entry error on at least one variable of interest, and 57 offenders were excluded from the final analytical sample because they did not have at least two years of follow-up.

  3. Caudill & Trulson (2023) note the potential confounding consequences of using short recidivism exposure windows, thus, we incorporated a recidivism exposure period of two years.

  4. Due to the small number of sub-sample observations, a number of other violent offenses and other offenses were collapsed into a single variable, “other offenses,” in the regression models.

  5. Information used to create the violent misconduct rate variable was missing in 42 observations. The mean average of the observed violent misconduct rate for the other 724 subjects was 0.644 (sd = 3.807). This mean average was imputed for the missing 42 observations, resulting in the full sample mean of 0.645 (sd = 3.701). Subsequent analyses comparing the results of logistic regression models predicting TDCJ with imputation and listwise deletion samples suggest non-significant (absolute z-scores < 0.73) changes in coefficients and no shifts in direction or significance. Based on these results, the mean average was imputed for missing violent misconduct rates to maintain the sample of 709.

  6. Model fit: Obs = 709; X2 = 119.78**; McFadden R2 = 0.13; VIF: 1.19.

  7. Model fit: Obs = 709; X2 = 42.41**; McFadden R2 = 0.07; VIF: 1.19.

  8. Model fit: Obs = 517; X2 = 57.84**; McFadden R2 = 0.08; VIF: 1.17.

  9. Model fit: Obs = 229; X2 = 42.34**; McFadden R2 = 0.14; VIF: 1.28.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Denton, TX76203, #305130, USA

    Chad R. Trulson & Jessica M. Craig

  2. School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO, 80918, USA

    Jonathan W. Caudill

  3. Affiliate, Center for the Study of Violence, Iowa State University, 203A East Hall, Ames, IA, 50011-1070, USA

    Matt DeLisi

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  1. Chad R. Trulson
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Correspondence to Chad R. Trulson.

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Trulson, C.R., Craig, J.M., Caudill, J.W. et al. Sometimes they Come Back: Recidivism and the Adult Imprisonment of Formerly Incarcerated Serious And Violent Juvenile Offenders. Am J Crim Just 49, 349–369 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-024-09755-x

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