Holly Ventura Miller

If Your Friends Jumped Off of a Bridge, Would You Do It Too? Delinquent Peers and Susceptibility to Peer Influence

Association with delinquent peer groups is one of the most salient predictors of delinquent behavior. Despite the widespread documentation of these effects, little is known about whether the delinquent peer effect is conditioned by individual‐level characteristics. Using data from a multi‐wave survey of Mexican‐American adolescents, this study explored the interactive effect of susceptibility to peer influence and differential association with delinquent peers on delinquent outcomes. Results suggested that the delinquent peer effect on self‐reported delinquency is amplified when an adolescent is highly susceptible to peer influence. Analyses also indicated that this moderating effect varies according to offense seriousness. Specifically, the conditioning effect is most important when considering acts of serious delinquency.

Community In‐Reach Through Jail Reentry: Findings from a Quasi‐Experimental Design

Offenders face a number of significant challenges upon reentry into the community, including securing employment, locating housing, and accessing adequate substance abuse and mental health treatment. These and related issues, if neglected, only bolster rising recidivism rates which have prompted renewed interest in rehabilitation initiatives such as inmate reentry. Many jurisdictions have implemented programs designed to improve offenders success after prison, but jail reentry programs are far less common. This study examined the effectiveness of one such program, the Auglaize County (OH) Transition (ACT) Program. Using a quasiexperimental design, recidivism was measured a year after release to determine if participation in the ACT Program was predictive of successful reentry. Findings suggest that program participation is strongly related to outcome success as was criminal history. Implications for correctional policy and suggestions for additional jail reentry research are considered.

Explaining Substance Use among Puerto Rican Adolescents: A Partial Test of Social Learning Theory

This study examines the cross-cultural efficacy of social learning theory as it relates to substance use among Puerto Rican adolescents. Using data from a self-report survey of high school students attending private and public schools in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we compare the relative effects of personal and peer definitions (differential association) on substance use. Results indicate that statistical differences exist between public and private school respondents on all three outcomes (cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use) and the two aspects of social learning theory, definitions and differential association. After controlling for demographic factors, peer definitions are shown to have the greatest effect on likelihood of substance use. Students who perceive greater peer approval of substance use are far more likely to report lifetime cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use regardless of their own personal definitions of such behavior. Sex differences are also discussed.

Rethinking Program Fidelity for Criminal Justice

Criminal justice program evaluation has long been oriented around reduction objectives determined through quasi-experimental and related variable analytic designs (Petrosino and Soydan, 2005; Shover, 1979). Such purely quantitative approaches relate program impacts considered indicative of program effectiveness but neglect nonmeasured program drivers informing why or how outcomes are realized. More often than not, outcome evaluation in criminal justice imprudently assumes that program results are a function of treatment or intervention sans empirical confirmation. Helpfully, mixed-methods approaches coupling process and outcome phases have migrated from other disciplines and offer a more rigorous and scientific strategy for determining program efficacy. Mixed-methods research in the milieu of applied criminology and criminal justice science, unfortunately, is generally underutilized as the objectives and design requirements of the process phase are poorly articulated and blurred with the functions of pure qualitative research. Although applied fieldwork enables an exploration of phenomena and contextualization of quantitative findings, process evaluation uses qualitative techniques to capture data for confirmatory as well as ethnographic purposes. Accordingly, the foremost objective of process evaluation is to ascertain program fidelity, a concept informing whether treatment services are delivered consistent with program theory and design.

Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Offending: Findings from a Sample of Hispanic Adolescents

This study examines the relationship between ethnicity, acculturation, and crime among a sample of Hispanic adolescents drawn from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) dataset. Prior research has shown that Hispanics who are more acculturated are more likely to engage in crime, but there is a lack of empirical evidence to explain why this is, and little research that has explored Hispanics relative to one another. In an effort to address these shortcomings, this study explores the impact of ethnicity on criminal offending among Hispanic adolescents. This study also examines whether acculturation, net of ethnicity, predicts criminal offending among this group. Using longitudinal data from the PHDCN, we assess the independent effects of ethnicity and generational status, as well as additional criminological variables on adolescent criminal offending. Findings indicated that, on average, Mexican adolescents were less likely than other Hispanics to report violent offending while Puerto Ricans were significantly more likely to report violent offending. No differences were observed between Hispanic subgroups with respect to property offending. Results from negative binomial regression revealed that ethnicity is rendered insignificant in multivariate analyses. Consistent with prior research, first generation immigrants were significantly less likely to engage in delinquent behavior, even after controlling for relevant criminological variables.

Identifying Leading Characteristics Associated with Juvenile Drug Court Admission and Success A Research Note

Since first appearing in the late 1980s, drug courts have quickly become one of the leading intervention strategies for offenders exhibiting problems with drug abuse. Popular with policy makers for their innovative approach to breaking the drugs-crime nexus, drug courts are now considered one of the hallmarks of both the adult and juvenile justice systems of corrections. Empirical research has indicated that drug courts are one of the most promising contemporary correctional strategies in reducing recidivism among substance abusing offenders. This study examined a juvenile drug court in an effort to answer some recent research questions that have been proffered by empiricists. Results suggested that clients with a history of mental health problems had greater odds of being admitted to the drug court. No client characteristics, however, were predictive of client success in the drug court. Policy implications are also considered.

Outcome Evaluation of a Family-Based Jail Reentry Program for Substance Abusing Offenders:

Offender reentry programs have proliferated since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008. This study examines the effectiveness of one such jail-based reentry program for male inmates diagnosed with substance dependency and who have minor children, the Delaware County (OH) Jail Substance Abuse Treatment program. This program served 34 offenders and their families over 2 years and was based on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training model, a treatment modality for substance abuse involving both operant conditioning and family-based therapy for behavioral modification. Results from a quasi-experimental design indicate that program participants were significantly less likely to be rearrested within 1 year after release relative to a comparison group of similarly situated offenders and more likely to comply with child support orders following release. Findings also revealed the treatment group had significantly more days to failure for those who did recidivate.

Considering the Effectiveness of Drug Treatment behind Bars: Findings from the South Carolina RSAT Evaluation

Through funding from the national Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program, the South Carolina Department of Corrections implemented the Correctional Recovery Academy in the Turbeville Medium Security Institution to treat drug‐dependent offenders. The program features a cognitive–behavioral change modality delivered in a modified therapeutic community to first time, non‐violent, drug‐dependent, youthful male offenders. A quasi‐experimental design was employed to specify impact as indicated by recidivism, relapse, and parole revocation. While analyses revealed no statistically significant difference between treatment and control group participants on these outcome measures, implications regarding the efficacy of the treatment modality are ambiguous as implementation failure masked determination of program effects. Drug testing frequency after release, however, was found to be a significant factor precluding failure, contrary to the conventional view that increased testing identifies greater use.

A promising jail reentry program revisited: results from a quasi-experimental design

Prisoner reentry remains a significant challenge for the criminal justice system with millions of offenders returning to society each year from the nation’s prisons and jails. Employment, housing, and access to substance abuse and mental health treatment are common, often unmet, challenges for the returning offender. In response, state and local jurisdictions have implemented reentry programming designed to assist in the transition from incarceration to the community. While most of these programs have targeted offenders in prisons, a growing number of local jurisdictions have implemented reentry initiatives through federal funding. This study examines the second cohort (2011–2013) of the Auglaize County (OH) transition program (ACT), a BJA-designated ‘promising’ reentry program. This evaluation sought to determine if the program maintained its positive impact on participant recidivism. Findings indicate that the treatment group had significantly lower rates of rearrest and probation violations at the bivariate level, but that these results did not hold for rearrest after the inclusion of relevant control variables in the multivariate analysis. Participation remained significantly associated with reduced probation violations at the multivariate level.

Juvenile Justice System Outcomes Among Foreign-Born and Native-Born Latinos in the United States An Exploratory Study

A growing body of research has identified a negative relationship between generational status and criminological outcomes such that foreign-born Latinos are significantly less likely to report offending, victimization, and drug use compared to their native-born counterparts. What has been explored to a lesser degree is the extent to which generational status impacts the experiences of Latino youth within the juvenile justice system. Using the Add Health data set, this article explores the prevalence of juvenile court involvement among foreign (i.e., first generation) and native-born (i.e., second generation or higher) Latino youth as well as the types of offenses for which they were adjudicated delinquent. Results suggest that significant differences exist between the foreign and native-born both in terms of juvenile court involvement and offense types. These findings are discussed relative to the extant literature and juvenile justice policy and practice.