An analysis of protective and risk factors associated with no formal contact with the criminal justice system in a nationally representative sample of males and females

ABSTRACT

Criminological research is largely focused on understanding the causes, correlates, and pathways to criminal behavior and contact with the criminal justice system. An equally important issue that has received comparatively less attention is a focus on understanding the correlates and causes of abstinence from criminal behavior and contact with the criminal justice system. The current study was designed to analyze the potential protective and risk factors associated with having no contact with the criminal justice system – that is, abstaining from criminal justice system contact. To do so, the authors analyzed data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The results revealed that about 72 percent of respondents abstained from contact with the criminal justice system. Moreover, religion and intelligence were associated with increases in the odds of abstinence while low self-control, delinquent peers, and victimization were associated with reductions in the odds of abstinence for both males and females. We conclude by discussing the limitations of the study and directions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Abstainers
• Add Health
• crime
• criminal justice
• developmental
• life course

Acknowledgments

Wave VI of Add Health is supported by two grants from the National Institute on Aging (1U01AG071448, principal investigator Robert A. Hummer, and 1U01AG071450, principal investigators Allison E. Aiello and Robert A. Hummer) to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Co-funding for Wave VI is being provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research, and the NIH Office of Disease Prevention. The content of this paper/presentation is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The project was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development from 1994-2021, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health is currently directed by Robert A. Hummer; it was previously directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris (2004-2021) and J. Richard Udry (1994-2004).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dzhansarayeva Rima

Dzhansarayeva Rima is a doctor of law, professor, and head of the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics at the Faculty of Law of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Gulzhan Mukhamadieva

Gulzhan Mukhamadieva is an associate professor of the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics at the Faculty of Law of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Erbol Alimkulov

Erbol Alimkulov is an associate professor and deputy dean for Scientific and Innovative Work and International Relations in the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics at the Faculty of Law of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Saltanat Duzbayeva

Saltanat Duzbayeva is an acting associate professor and deputy head of Scientific and Innovative Work and International Relations in the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics at the Faculty of Law of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.

Kevin M. Beaver

Kevin M. Beaver is the Judith Rich Harris Professor of Criminology in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.