Indicator: 51 - Youth Success After Leaving the Juvenile Justice System 

Why This Is Important

Families, young people, and the professionals and volunteers who work in the juvenile
justice system all hope that young people who enter that system do not become repeat
offenders (recidivists). Committing a repeat offense increases the odds that youth will also
experience other negative outcomes and injure the quality of life in their community.

 

 

Where We Stand

The definition used to determine the recidivism rate for the Maine Department of
Corrections Juvenile Services was “any individual recording a second adjudication date
in the state of Maine’s juvenile court system for offenses committed before the age of 18”.

Using this definition of recidivism, 35% of the 4,630 youth who were first adjudicated
between 1998 and 2001 were re-adjudicated at least one more time before November
1, 2003. This percentage will likely continue to rise, especially for youth first adjudicated
in 2000 and 2001, as they have more time to re-offend. Thirty-nine percent of all recidivists
were adjudicated three or more times.

The percentage of youth who were re-adjudicated within one year of their first offense was
about the same for each of the four youth cohorts (20% for youth first adjudicated in 1998;
20% for those first adjudicated in 1999; 19% for those first adjudicated in 2000, and 17%
for those first adjudicated in 2001).

The 1998-2001 MDOC reports on youth recidivism also provide other basic information
on youth who were first adjudicated in those years. Just under four-fifths were male, and
almost all were white. About four-fifths (81%) were between 14 and 17 years of age. Just
over half (59%) were adjudicated for property offenses, and 10% for drug offenses. Just
under three-fourths were adjudicated for misdemeanors. Between 1998 and 2001, the
number of juveniles adjudicated rose 43%, with misdemeanor offenses accounting for this
entire increase. The number of female offenders adjudicated grew 81% during this period,
while the number of males increased by 34%. Drug offenses rose by 216% between the
1998 and 2001 cohorts.

 

Data Sources and Context

The data comes from the 2001 Recidivism Report, the latest in a series of juvenile recidivism
reports developed by the Maine Statistical Analysis Center at the Muskie School of Public
Service for MDOC Division of Juvenile Services. The report provides a detailed profile of
juvenile offenders and adjudicated crimes in Maine between January 1, 1998 and December
31, 2001. The Juvenile Recidivism Reports are available on-line at: http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/justiceresearch/Reports.htm.