Improved Educational Achievement as a Path to Desistance

Abstract

In this article we present a summary of the literature on the associations between learning difficulties/disabilities and juvenile delinquency. This literature is almost a hundred years old, but, although reportedly demonstrating the low academic achievement–delinquency connection, contains numerous unanswered questions regarding the frequency, strength, direction, stability, and causality of these associations. We then use this literature to contextualize the research taking place at the Houston Learning Disabilities (LD) Hub, a member of the LD Centers and Hubs Network, supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). In doing so, we present our previous studies and our current research. We conclude by discussing a number of shortcomings in the literature, some—but far from all—of which we hope to address in our ongoing work.

The “Learning Disabilities-to-Prison” Pipeline: Evidence From the Add Health National Longitudinal Study

“…Justice-involved youth have learning disability prevalence rates ranging from 28% to 46%, with higher rates for those further penetrating the system from adjudication (when a young person is formally determined to be “delinquent” and comes under juvenile court supervision) to incarceration, though these estimates have been found to vary over time for both operational and methodological reasons. Moreover, a disproportionately high proportion of justice-involved youth with learning disabilities are those of color (Gagnon et al, 2009; Grigorenko et al, 2019; Harris, Halpern, et al, 2009; Swayze & Buskovick, 2014).…”

“…The learning disabilities link to crime and incarceration is even less well understood than the explanation for racial and ethnic disparities in the school-to-prison pipeline, though the two appear interrelated because of the high prevalence of students of color in the special education system. Studies examining the connection between students with learning disabilities and involvement with the juvenile courts overall produced inconsistent results on the direction of the association and the causal mechanism underlying the connection (Mallett, 2013; Grigorenko et al, 2019). This paper furthers these empirical investigations by using a nationally representative longitudinal dataset and examines factors that increase the risk of young people with learning disabilities for delinquency, crime, and incarceration.…”

Police in schools: The complicated impact on students, school environments, and the juvenile courts

“…Over the same time period, these same groups of young people have been identified as being disproportionately involved with the juvenile courts, and in particular, with placement in detention and juvenile justice facilities. This is not happenstance but shows how difficulties in schools are, for many students, pathways to the juvenile courts (Grigorenko, Hart, Hein, Kovalenko, & Naumova, 2019; Hockenberry, 2020; The Sentencing Project, 2021).…”

Twice Exceptional Students: Gifts and Talents, the Performing Arts, and Juvenile Delinquency

“…The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) category that is featured here is that of emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), in particular, Disruptive, Impulse‐Control, and Conduct Disorders, including a range of related diagnoses (Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, among others). These diagnoses are overrepresented in youth involved with the juvenile justice system, with a range of estimates, some as high as 70% (Grigorenko, Hart, Hein, Kovalenko, & Naumova, 2019).…”