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Random Acts of Delinquency: Trauma and Self-Destructiveness in Juvenile Offenders

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Abstract

This article provides an explanatory model of the way in which trauma leads to serious delinquency. Using perspectives from information processing, social learning, and self-regulation theories, we present evidence to suggest that adolescents whose lives were shaped by trauma perceive and encode social cues differently than non-traumatized individuals. A number of assessment tools and therapeutic interventions are recommended, followed by suggestions for advocating on the behalf of adolescents incarcerated in the juvenile justice system.

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Baer, J., Maschi, T. Random Acts of Delinquency: Trauma and Self-Destructiveness in Juvenile Offenders. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 20, 85–98 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022812630174

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