Juveniles in the Adult Prison System and Recidivism

Although advocates to keep juvenile offenders out of the adult prison system are probably thrilled with the findings of a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it seems flawed to me.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Youth offenders tried and detained in the adult criminal justice system are a third more likely to be arrested for a crime later in life than youths who go through the juvenile justice system, according to a national report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So Wisconsin's practice of transferring 17-year-olds to adult courts, jails and prisons may increase crime, local juvenile justice advocates say.

"This report should be a call to lawmakers that it's time to revisit our treatment of 17-year-olds as a group as adults," said Wendy Henderson, a policy analyst with the Madison-based Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

Legal experts, legislators and activists have debated the issue since 17 became Wisconsin's age of majority in 1995. Opponents have argued that reforming juveniles should be the priority and an adult record shouldn't follow a youth offender the rest of his or her life. Backers pointed to the nationwide trend of adopting such measures, a response to a spike in children committing violent crimes.

The report marks the first time the public health community has weighed in on the debate, Henderson said. A task force staffed by researchers at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Justice compiled data from six previous studies to produce the report, which was first released in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine earlier this year.

The report does not focus on Wisconsin but compares existing data on offenders younger than 18 in Washington state, Pennsylvania, and regions of New York, Minnesota and Florida. Youths who had been transferred to the adult system in a previous brush with the law were more likely to be rearrested for offenses, violent or otherwise, than those who had been processed as juveniles, the study found.

As I read this article, I'm thinking it's a classic chicken or the egg matter.

Did the experience of juveniles in the adult prison system directly result in their increased likelihood of being rearrested later?

Or, as assistant professor of political science at Marquette University John McAdams suggests, were recidivism rates higher among those juveniles because "[t]he adult system got the kids who are toughest to begin with"?

...Researchers considered this and looked at only serious cases that would be eligible for transfer to the adult system, according to the report. They then compared the outcomes of cases transferred with those dealt with in the juvenile system.

No, no, no. Researchers can't dismiss the matter that easily.

There are variables in specific serious cases that make the outcomes impossible to compare with other serious cases.

There are qualifying factors that led to the decisions for certain juveniles to be sent to the adult prison system as opposed to the juvenile justice system in the first place.

This study could not possibly have controlled for those variables.

In sum, it does not prove that transferring serious juvenile offenders to the adult system, rather than taking efforts to reform young murderers, shooters, and rapists, actually creates more crime in the long run.

Without question the study is flawed, but I'm sure that won't stop the advocates for treating 17-year-old serious offenders with kid gloves from citing the findings as gospel.

This is a study, not Revelation.