Examining Risk Factor and Recidivism Rate Differences Between Youth Adjudicated for Sex and Non-Sex Offenses: A Propensity Score Matching Approach

ABSTRACT

Youth adjudicated for sex offenses are frequently overridden to high-risk on general recidivism risk assessments. Little research supports this use of overrides. This study seeks to examine the extent to which those adjudicated for sex and non-sex offenses differ on recidivism rates in a sample of 1,380 sex and non-sex offending youth from a Midwestern state juvenile court. Propensity score matching was used to examine general recidivism rate differences between those adjudicated for sex and non-sex offenses. After matching youth on race, age, and eight criminogenic risk factors, youth adjudicated for sexual offenses recidivated at a significantly lower rate.

KEYWORDS:

• Risk assessment
• sex offenses
• recidivism
• propensity score matching
• juvenile justice

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

¹ Given youth were assessed by the YLS/CMI from 2004 through 2017, it is possible that changes in policies or practices throughout the years impacted the results of this study. To examine this possibility, we conducted an additional analysis with “year of assessment” included in the PSM model. The results of this analysis produced nearly identical results (t = 3.36; p < .001). These results are available upon request.