Online Program

319266
Predictors of Juvenile and Adult Offending Patterns-A perspective from School Discipline Practice


Monday, November 2, 2015

Xian Guan, Ph.D, Center for Social Work Development and Research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China, Chengdu, China
Xiangshu Deng, Ph.D, Center for Social Work Development and research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China
Yu Hu, Ph.D, Center for Social Work Development and Research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China
Purpose: The current correlational study examined whether specific school discipline practices were associated with students’ subsequent juvenile and adult offending. 

Methodology: The current study used an administrative data set containing educational, juvenile justice, and adult correctional information about 407,800 children enrolled in grades 7-12 in public schools in a state in the Deep South. The overall sample The study sample was drawn from a 10-year cohort (1996-2008) of children in grades 7-12 (N=45,799) who were identified as early starters (juvenile offense record; n=14,346;31.4%), late starters (adult offense record; n=17,105;37.3%), adolescence-limited (juvenile offense record, only; n=10,126;22.1%), and life-course-persistent (juvenile plus adult offense records; n=4,222;9.2%).  Three demographic variables are gender, race, and poverty status. School discipline predictors included out-of-school expulsion, out-of-school suspension, in-school suspension, and in-school expulsion. the rest school predcitors are attendance, truancy risk, dropout status, school transitions, highest grade completed, and ELA standardized test scores.  

Results: Wald statistics showed that in-school and out-of-school suspension and out-of-school expulsion significantly predicted each of the four patterns of offending. Odds ratios, however, for expulsion indicated moderate to large changes in the likelihood of having a juvenile record, an adult record, only a juvenile record, and both juvenile plus adult records; at Exp(B) = 11.2, 4.7, 8.0, and 7.8, respectively. 

Policy recommendation: Results underscore the importance of implementing educational and psychosocial interventions to minimize expulsion from school. Additional longitudinal research is needed to understand how school discipline policies disproportionately affect children from minority groups.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Other professions or practice related to public health
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Analyze if certain school discipline charges are associated with juvenile delinquency and adult crime; Discuss educational policy to stop the pipeline from school to prison

Keyword(s): Behavioral Research, Risk Factors/Assesment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the major researcher for the submitted study. The study is one of five studies from my dissertation at Louisiana State University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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