It's F**ing Chaos: COVID-19's Impact on Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice

An early examination of the impact of COVID-19 on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice in America, this review provides initial scholarship to rapidly evolving areas of research. Our appraisals of these topics are made after nearly 2 months of national COVID-19 mitigation measures, like social distancing and limited "non-essential" movement outside the home but also as states are gradually lifting stricter directives and reopening economic sectors. We consider the impact of these pandemic-related changes on twenty-first century youths, their behaviors, and their separate justice system. To forecast the immediate future, we draw from decades of research on juvenile delinquency and the justice system, as well as from reported patterns of reactions and responses to an unprecedented and ongoing situation. As post-pandemic studies on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice proliferate, we urge careful consideration as to how they might influence societal and the system responses to youths' delinquency. Additional practical implications are discussed.

Assessing Intimate Partner Violence in a Control Balance Theory Framework

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that control occupies in the motivation for, and development of, intimate partner violence (IPV). The research literature often theorizes about the importance of control in gender-based crimes; however, few studies have empirically tested these assumptions. Given the breath of theoretical approaches in examining IPV and the need for individualized explanations, the current study used concepts from Tittle's control balance theory. This integrated theory accounts for many of the known risk factors, such as self-control and routine activities, while accounting for individual perceptions of control. A college student sample (N = 401) was used, in accordance with the literature that has found this subpopulation to be at high risk for IPV. An online survey was distributed to potential participants to capture self-reported incidents of victimization and perpetration of IPV within the past year. Statistical analysis using segmented nonlinear regression models was estimated to assess sex difference effects. The results showed no difference in control continuums between the sexes but did find significant associations between control deficits and female victimization and perpetration, as well as significant association between control deficits and male perpetration of IPV. These findings have implications beyond the theoretical confirmation that control is key factor to this type of violence. In addition to greater education regarding dating expectations, control deficits may be particularly important for socially marginalized groups, such as those from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Efforts can then be made to identify issues with control in IPV counseling, victim services, treatments for offenders, and other gender-based crimes, such as rape, sexual assault, and stalking.

The Relationship Between Self-Control and Friendship Conflict: An analysis of Friendship Pairs

While Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime is one of the most empirically tested theories of deviance, the theory offers hypotheses that range far beyond how self-control should affect behavior. This study is broadly focused on how self-control operates between friends by considering how the general theory's main construct relates to friendship conflict. Using a large dyadic dataset, three-level hybrid item-response models regress the actor's proclivity to experience conflict with the friend onto measures of the actor's self-control, the friend's self-control, and an interaction between the self-control estimates. Results demonstrate that the actor's and the friend's self-control both significantly relate to friendship conflict, as the theory would expect. However, the actor's and friend's levels of self-control do not interact.

Deviant Peer Preferences: A Simplified Approach to Account for Peer Selection Effects

The goal of this study is to present and validate a simple method for accounting for peer selection on offending based on a respondent's self-reported preferences for friends who engage in criminal behavior. Using primary panel data (n = 611), having a preference for peers who offend (the measure of peer selection) relates positively and significantly to offending behavior. The selection measure, which carries the advantage of being closely aligned to criminological theory, renders the peer offending/perso nal offending relationship nonsignificant. Our selection variables also out perform a more traditional means of capturing peer selection effects.

Explaining Adolescent Drug Use in Adjacent Generations: Testing the Generality of Theoretical Explanations

We tested the assumption that theories of drug use are able to account for behavior across varying contexts and populations by examining whether control, learning, and elaborated theories provide similar explanations for adolescent drug use in adjacent generations. We used data from the Rochester Youth Development Study and Rochester Intergenerational Study which followed a sample of adolescents starting at age 14 and their oldest biological child. Cross-generational analysis between theoretical variables measured at age 14 and drug use measured at approximately ages 15 and 16 were used. Regression models testing for each theoretical framework found that in general, they appear to operate similarly in adjacent generations. We conducted 14 tests of equality for pairs of coefficients across the generations; no statistically significant differences are observed. Overall, these theories offer general explanations for adolescent drug use with respect to risk and protective factors for parents and their children. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.