This study examines the relationship of institutional misconduct to postrelease rearrest, controlling for a battery of preincarceration variables typically found to influence recidivism among institutionalized delinquent offenders. Based on data from 1,804 serious and violent male delinquents released from a large southern juvenile correctional system, this research found limited support for institutional misconduct as a determinant of recidivism. Of all measures of misconduct, only the rate of total misconduct infractions was related to postrelease rearrest, and this effect was generally small and found only in the rearrest frequency model, not the dichotomous rearrest model. Implications for research and practice are explored.

Adverse childhood experiences are associated with an array of health, psychiatric, and behavioral problems including antisocial behavior. Criminologists have recently utilized adverse childhood experiences as an organizing research framework and shown that adverse childhood experiences are associated with delinquency, violence, and more chronic/severe criminal careers. However, much less is known about adverse childhood experiences vis-à-vis specific forms of crime and whether the effects vary across race and ethnicity. Using a sample of 2520 male confined juvenile delinquents, the current study used epidemiological tables of odds (both unadjusted and adjusted for onset, total adjudications, and total out of home placements) to evaluate the significance of the number of adverse childhood experiences on commitment for homicide, sexual assault, and serious persons/property offending. The effects of adverse childhood experiences vary considerably across racial and ethnic groups and across offense types. Adverse childhood experiences are strongly and positively associated with sexual offending, but negatively associated with homicide and serious person/property offending. Differential effects of adverse childhood experiences were also seen among African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. Suggestions for future research to clarify the mechanisms by which adverse childhood experiences manifest in specific forms of criminal behavior are offered.

There is an increasing recognition that incarceration time, instead of a period characterized by intermittency or lulls in offending, is for many a period of continued involvement in misconduct and other problematic behaviors. Yet, despite mounting evidence on the offending patterns of incarcerated adults, little research attention has been paid to the institutional behavior of incarcerated delinquents. The current research explored the institutional misconduct careers of 2,520 serious and violent delinquent offenders incarcerated in a large southern juvenile correctional system. Analyses revealed that the study cohort engaged in more than 200,000 instances of minor misconduct behaviors and nearly 19,000 instances of major misconduct behaviors during their incarceration. Multivariate analyses examining the incidence of major, minor, and assaultive institutional misconduct revealed that offenders with more extensive delinquent backgrounds had an increased expected rate of misconduct, net the effects of a number of variables. Implications for research and practice are explored.

This study explores the recidivism outcomes of 1,804 serious and violent delinquents sentenced under a blended sentencing statute and released early by juvenile correctional authorities without continuing their blended sentence in adult prisons. Released at an average age of 19, roughly 50% of releases were rearrested for a felony-level offense postrelease. The remaining 50% of all releases did not incur a postrelease arrest or were rearrested for an offense no higher than a misdemeanor. Measures for assaultive institutional misconduct and prior delinquent adjudications were predictive of recidivism in models examining rearrest for any offense and rearrest for a felony only. Substance abusers, gang members, those with a gang-related commitment offense, and homicide-related state commitments were significantly more likely to be rearrested for any offense postrelease. This article ends with a discussion of implications specific to this high risk cohort of released delinquent offenders. 256The Prison Journal 91(3)

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