Note:
This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2005, $1,499,817)
This study follows 1200 serious adolescent offenders, ages 15 to 17 at baseline, for six years after court involvement for a felony offense. The project is currently in its 4th year of data collection. The goals of the study are to: 1) identify initial patterns of desistance from antisocial activity in serious adolescent offenders; 2) describe the role of social context and developmental changes in promoting positive behavioral change; and 3) compare the effects of juvenile justice sanctions and interventions in promoting positive change and desistance from criminal behavior. Adolescent offenders are drawn from two large metropolitan areas, Phoenix and Philadelphia. Subjects with substantial offending histories are recruited at intake, disposition, and release from incarceration; and will be interviewed twice annually for a minimum of three years, followed by annual interviews after that. Interviews include a review of relevant official records. Data will be collected on background characteristics (e.g., service and sanction history), mediating factors (e.g., vocational opportunities), changes in functioning (e.g., drug and alcohol use), and juvenile justice sanctions and interventions. Data analysis will focus on identifying subgroups of offenders and estimating the impact of life events, interventions, and sanctions on desistance from and continuation of criminal behavior. The grantee will report on performance measures relevant to the project, such as the percentage of youth who complete interviews within the appropriate timeframe (i.e. the study's retention rate), and activities related to data cleaning, analysis and reporting. NCA/NCF