The specific deterrent effect of custodial penalties on juvenile re-offending (original) (raw)

It is widely assumed that placing offenders (juvenile or adult) in custody acts as a deterrent to further offending. Studies of deterrence in the United States and elsewhere provide little support for this assumption, however comparable studies in Australia are comparatively rare. The present study was designed to see whether juvenile offenders who receive a detention sentence are less likely to re-offend, controlling for other factors, than juvenile offenders given some other form of sentence. Two groups of offenders (152 given an detention sentence, 243 given a non-custodial sentence) were interviewed at length about various matters, including their family life, school performance association with delinquent peers and substance abuse. They were then followed up to determine what proportion in each group was reconvicted of a further offence. Cox regression was used to model time to reconviction. The study found no significant association between the type of penalty imposed and time to reconviction.