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Procedural Justice Versus Risk Factors for Offending: Predicting Recidivism in Youth

Resource type
Date created
2014
Authors/Contributors
Author: Penner, E.K.
Author: Roesch, R.
Abstract
Theories of procedural justice suggest that individuals who experience respectful and fair legal decision-making procedures are more likely to believe in the legitimacy of the law, and, in turn, are less likely to reoffend. However, few studies have examined these relationships in youth. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, in the current study the authors studied 92 youth (67 male, 25 female) on probation regarding their perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy, and then monitored their offending over the subsequent six months. Results indicated that perceptions of procedural justice predicted self-reported offending at three months but not at six months, and that youths’ beliefs about the legitimacy of the law did not mediate this relationship. Furthermore, procedural justice continued to account for unique variance in self-reported offending over and above the predictive power of well-established risk factors for offending (i.e., peer delinquency, substance abuse, psychopathy, and age at first contact with the law). Theoretically, the current study provides evidence that models of procedural justice developed for adults are only partially replicated in a sample of youth; practically, this research suggests that by treating adolescents in a fair and just manner, justice professionals may be able to reduce the likelihood that adolescents will reoffend, at least in the short term.
Document
Published as
Penner, E.K., Viljoen, J.L., Douglas, K.S., & Roesch, R. (2014). Procedural justice versus risk factors for offending: Predicting recidivism in youth. Law and Human Behavior, 38(3), 225-237. doi:10.1037/lhb0000055
Publication title
Law and Human Behavior
Document title
Procedural Justice Versus Risk Factors for Offending: Predicting Recidivism in Youth
Date
2014
Volume
38
Issue
3
First page
225
Last page
237
Publisher DOI
10.1037/lhb0000055
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author(s).
Scholarly level
Peer reviewed?
Yes
Language
English
Member of collection

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