Highlights From Pathways to Desistance:

Edward P. Mulvey

The Pathways to Desistance Study is a large collaborative,
multidisciplinary project that is following 1,354 serious
juvenile offenders ages 14–18 (184 females and 1,170 males)
for 7 years after their conviction (for more detailed informa-
tion, see “Study Design”).1 This study has collected the most
comprehensive data set currently available about serious
adolescent offenders and their lives in late adolescence and
early adulthood. It looks at the factors that lead youth who
have committed serious offenses to continue or desist from
offending, including individual maturation, life changes, and
involvement with the criminal justice system.

Study Findings
The primary findings of the study to date deal with the
decrease in self-reported offending over time by most serious
adolescent offenders, the relative inefficacy of longer juvenile
incarcerations in decreasing recidivism, the effectiveness of
community-based supervision as a component of aftercare for
incarcerated youth, and the effectiveness of substance abuse
treatment in reducing both substance use and offending by
serious adolescent offenders.

Most youth who commit felonies greatly reduce their
offending over time, regardless of the intervention.
Approximately 91.5 percent of youth in the study reported
decreased or limited illegal activity during the first 3 years
following their court involvement. In particular, two groups
of male offenders—those with high, stable offending rates,
and those with high, but declining offending rates—had very
different outcomes despite similar treatment by the juvenile
justice system (see figure 1). For both groups, approximately
40 percent of offenders were in jail or prison across the
3-year followup period (see “Study Design”); each group also
had similar percentages under detention or in a contracted
residential placement (about 20 percent of each group was in
each of these forms of supervision). Overall, approximately
50 percent of the youth in each group were under some form
of supervision during the followup period, and about 20
percent were receiving community-based services.
Click here to read full article: http://www.desistance.info/2011/03/highlights-from-pathways-to-desistance-a-longitudinal-study-of-serious-adolescent-offenders/