Risk & Protective factors of Juvenile Delinquency: Possibilities for effective preventive interventions Jaap de Waard Presentation for the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, November 2014 10 November 2014

Understanding factors related to juvenile delinquency: Crucial for effective interventions Intervention methods to prevent juvenile delinquency must address a range of risk and protective factors Preventing juvenile delinquency in a child’s life can pay significant dividends by reducing crime rates and crime related expenditures More important it can help children avoid the consequences of delinquent behaviour by increasing their chances of leading law-abiding and productive lives

Identifying risk and protective factors of juvenile delinquency The identification of multiple risk and protective factors is a difficult task No magic solutions exist for preventing juvenile delinquency Identifying risk and protective factors is essential to developing interventions to prevent juvenile delinquency

Childhood risk factors of juvenile delinquency: Individual factors Early antisocial behaviour Emotional factors, high behavioural activation and low behaviour inhibition Poor cognitive development Low intelligence Hyperactivity

Childhood risk factors of juvenile delinquency: Family factors Parenting Maltreatment Family violence Divorce Parental psychopathology Familial antisocial behaviours Teenage parenthood Family structure Large family size

Childhood risk factors of juvenile delinquency: Peer factors Association with deviant peers Peer rejection Bullying Concentration of delinquent peer groups

Poor academic performance Low academic aspirations Childhood risk factors of juvenile delinquency: School and community factors Failure to bond to school Poor academic performance Low academic aspirations Living in a poor family Neighbourhood disadvantage Disorganized neighbourhoods Access to weapons

Protective factors of juvenile delinquency The presence of a parent or parent figure Involvement with the adolescent and concerned with his or her successful development Inclusion in a peer group that values and models pro-social behaviour and academic success Activities that contribute to autonomous decision making and critical thinking Provide opportunities for adolescents to learn to think for themselves

Effective interventions focussing on risk and protective factors: I Impulse control in the pre-school years Nurses and home visits Focused family-based approaches Peer relation training Promoting pro-social skills Social competence curriculums Mentoring programs Bullying prevention programs Conflict resolution After school recreation programs

Effective interventions focussing on risk and protective factors: II Social development programs Provide incentives to complete secondary schooling Family therapy Preschool enrichment programs Improving school settings Vocational training for underprivileged youths

Some cautionary remarks No single risk factor is sufficient to explain juvenile delinquency Intervention methods must account for the wide range of individual, family, peer, school and community risk factors Still many gaps exist in our knowledge base about development and prevention of juvenile delinquency Use confinement sparingly and only to respond to serious offending Use restitution and community service more often Avoid collateral consequences of adjudication, such as public release of juvenile records that reduce opportunities to a prosocial life