Pathways to Desistance

This grant will support activities of the Pathways to Desistance study, an ongoing investigation of the ways in which serious adolescent offenders stop their involvement in crime and make successful transitions to adulthood. This is a multi-site, collaborative, longitudinal research project following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders. The study provides empirical information needed to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel about juveniles' future risk and amenability to treatment, as well as guidance for ongoing policy debates about alternative approaches for dealing with serious young offenders. Grant funding will be used to continue data collection, analysis, and dissemination at a critical juncture in the study, providing information on this sample until their mid-20's when prior research indicates that significant desistance from criminal activity will have occurred for most individuals. This research project addresses numerous topics of direct relevance to intervention efforts with serious adolescent offenders, and also establishes an infrastructure for future secondary data analyses by other investigators; creating the most comprehensive, complete longitudinal data set regarding serious offenders available to date.
NCA/NCF

OJJDP FY 09 Demonstration Programs Division Grants was established to provide grants, cooperative agreements and other assistance to organizations designated by OJJDP, as authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. Sections 5601 et seq.) and statutes appropriating funds for juvenile justice programs.

The Pathways study identifies variations in patterns of desistance from antisocial activity and examines the role of social context, developmental change, and system involvement in promoting change. It provides empirical information needed to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel and guidance for ongoing policy debates about alternative approaches for dealing with serious young offenders.

This award will continue activity and enable researchers to collect, code, and analyze mental health records (i.e., Medicaid and other state funded services encounter data) regarding the provision of services to the serious adolescent offenders enrolled in the Pathways to Desistance ('Pathways') study, an ongoing longitudinal research project following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders for seven years after court involvement. The activities described in this application will take two years to complete, and will be done in conjunction with ongoing data collection, data management and dissemination activities of the larger, Pathways study (funding for these latter activities is already in place). The information collected from this add on activity will be integrated into the existing, extensive data bases regarding these adolescent offenders. The inclusion of this information will: 1) validate and supplement self-report data already available in the Pathways study regarding receipt of social service interventions, 2) significantly expand the scope of potential analyses regarding the appropriateness and impact of service provision and sanctions for serious adolescent offenders, and 3) permit the investigators to conduct cost-benefit analyses of mental health services and sanctions provided to this group of serious offenders. NCA/NCF

OJJDP's Demonstration Programs Division Grants were established to provide grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117) -- H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366.

The University of Pittsburgh will continue to conduct the Pathways to Desistance study, an ongoing investigation of how serious adolescent offenders stop their involvement in crime and make successful transitions to adulthood. This study is a multi-site, collaborative, longitudinal research project following 1,354 serious juvenile offenders. The study identifies variations in patterns of desistance from antisocial activity; and examines the role of social context, developmental change, and system involvement in promoting change. The study provides empirical information needed to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel about juveniles, future risk and amenability to treatment, as well as guidance for ongoing policy debates about alternative approaches for dealing with serious young offenders.

The researchers will continue analyses and prepare data sets for posting for public access. The researchers will establish an infrastructure for future secondary data analyses by other investigators, make the research and practitioner communities aware of the potentials of the data sets, and assist in the execution of analyses and subsequent projects.

NCA/NCF

OJJDP's Demonstration Programs Division Grants were established to provide grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117) -- H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366.
The University of Pittsburgh will continue to analyze and write up findings culled from the Pathways to Desistance study, continuing investigation of how adolescent offenders who commit serious offenses stop their involvement in crime and make successful transitions to adulthood. This study is a multi-site, collaborative, longitudinal research project that followed 1,354 serious juvenile offenders. The study is identifying variations in patterns of desistance from antisocial activity; and examining the role of social context, developmental change, and system involvement in promoting change. The study provides empirical information needed to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel about juveniles, future risk and amenability to treatment, as well as guidance for ongoing policy debates about alternative approaches for dealing with young offenders who commit serious crimes. The researchers will continue analyses, dissemination activities, and their work to prepare data sets for public access posting. The researchers will establish an infrastructure for future secondary data analyses by other investigators, make the research and practitioner communities aware of the potentials of the data sets, and assist in the execution of analyses and subsequent projects. NCA/NCF