Kimberly L. Barrett

Mental Health, Substance Use, and Delinquency Among Truant Youth in a Brief Intervention Project A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between substance use, mental health disorders, and delinquency among youth is well documented. What has received far less attention from researchers is the relationship between these issues among truant youth, in spite of studies that document truants are a population at risk for negative outcomes. This study bridges this gap by (a) examining psychosocial functioning and delinquency among truants and (b) assessing the efficacy of a brief intervention (BI) in reducing delinquent behavior over time. To meet these objectives, data were collected from 183 truant youth enrolled in an ongoing National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)–funded BI project. Informed by a developmental damage perspective, a structural equation model was formulated and estimated. Interim results provide overall support for the model and suggest that the BI may be a promising, innovative intervention for truant youth. Service delivery implications and directions for future analyses are discussed.

The Relation Between Youth Fear and Avoidance of Crime in School and Academic Experiences

Despite decades of research analyzing fear of crime among adults, little is known about youth fear of crime in general and youth fear of crime in school, specifically. Moreover, among existing studies most emphasize causes of fear, with little discussion of avoidance or the academic consequences of these feelings and behaviors in school. This study contributed to the literature by exploring the relation between fear of crime and avoidance in school and academic experiences using data from the 2007 National Crime Victimization Surveys School Crime Supplement. Results suggested that fear increases the odds a student will skip class, decreases the odds a student will earn higher grades, and decreases the odds a student will aspire to pursue higher education. However, fear and avoidance of crime in school did not emerge as having a significant relation with participation in extracurricular activities. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Bethlehem Steel at Lackawanna: the state-corporate crimes that continue to victimize the residents and environment of Western New York

Findings from state-corporate crime studies evince the severity of crimes perpetrated via collusion between private industry and government. One area in which this collaboration is evident is in the development of atomic weapons. This paper presents a case study of prior complicity between Bethlehem Steel and the Atomic Energy Commission in Lackawanna, New York. Government reports, worker memoirs, and news media articles are analyzed to illustrate the repercussions of this state-corporate collusion on former employees and surrounding communities. Qualitative analysis supports two points: (1) political-economic factors drove a number of state-corporate crimes victimizing the western New York community and its residents, and (2) political economy acted as a source of motivation and opportunity, and produced weak social control in the development of nuclear arms at Bethlehem Steels Lackawanna plant. These results underscore the importance of studying the role of political economy in state-corporate offending.

Psychosocial Problems Among Truant Youths: A Multi-Group, Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Truant youths represent a critical group needing problem-oriented research and involvement in effective services. The limited number of studies on the psychosocial functioning of truant youths have focused on one or a few problem areas, rather than examining comorbid problem behaviors. The present study addresses the need to examine the interrelationships of multiple domains of psychosocial functioning, including substance involvement, mental health, and delinquency, among truant youths. Exploratory structural equation modeling on baseline data collected on 219 truant youths identified two major factors reflecting psychosocial functioning and found that the factor structure was similar across major sociodemographic subgroups. Further analyses supported the validity of the factor structure. The research and service delivery implications of the findings are discussed.

Brief Intervention for Truant Youth Sexual Risk Behavior and Alcohol Use: A Parallel Process Growth Model Analysis.

Truant youths frequently experience family problems, emotional/psychological issues, substance misuse, and delinquency. They are likely engaging in alcohol use and sexual risk behavior at a higher rate than the general youth population. Early intervention services would benefit them, their families, and society. We present interim findings from an ongoing, National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded, experimental, brief intervention (BI) study involving truant youths and their parent/guardians. Baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up data were analyzed to determine whether alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors were longitudinally related, to examine the effects of the BI on alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, to identify subgroups of youths involved in alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors, and to assess the impact of the BI on these subgroups. Results indicated alcohol use and sexual risk were longitudinally related. Limited treatment effects were observed for alcohol use. Implications for future research and service delivery are considered.

Impact of brief intervention services on drug-using, truant youth arrest charges over time

School truancy is a serious concern in the United States, with far-reaching negative consequences. Truancy has been positively associated with substance use and delinquent behavior; however, research is limited. Consequently, the Truancy Brief Intervention Project was established to treat and prevent substance use and other risky behaviors among truants. This article examines whether the Brief Intervention program is more effective in preventing future delinquency over a 12-month follow-up period than the standard truancy program. Results indicate the Brief Intervention was marginally significant in effecting future delinquency among truants, compared to the standard truancy program. Future implications of this study are discussed.

Does the Modernization of Environmental Enforcement Reduce Toxic Releases? An Examination of Self-policing, Criminal Prosecutions, and Toxic Releases in the United States, 1988–2014

ABSTRACT According to modernization theory, enforcement schemes that rely on end-of-the-pipe regulation are not as effective at achieving improved environmental performance as market-based approaches that encourage pollution prevention. Consistent with that observation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency transitioned to the use of self-policing to encourage pollution prevention. Other studies note that environmental compliance is significantly affected by traditional “command-and-control” strategies. Using Prais Winston regression we examine these contrasting views by estimating the relationship between toxic releases, self-policing, and criminal prosecutions from 1988 through 2014. Initial correlations suggest that (1) self-policing is not associated with toxic releases but that (2) criminal prosecutions may reduce toxic releases through general deterrence signals. Subsequent analyses controlling for gross domestic product revealed that neither self-policing nor criminal enforcement correlate with toxic releases but that gross domestic product was the strongest predictor of emissions. The implications of these findings for the control of toxic emissions are discussed.

Parenting Practices among Biological Mothers of Drug-Involved Truant Youths: A Latent Profile Analysis

Research has confirmed the continuing influence of parents in the lives of children through adulthood. Although peer influence on youth attitudes, values, and behavior increases as they enter adolescence, parent influence remains a significant aspect of their lives. Relatively little is known about parenting practices, which are critical elements in the development of parenting styles, especially among parents of drug-involved truant youths (DITY). Latent profile analysis of Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) data on parent practices among 190 biological mothers of DITY involved in an ongoing, prospective intervention study identified three distinct parent practice profiles: (a) low involvement and low positive parenting, (b) high involvement and positive parenting, and a low use of corporal punishment, and (c) the use of corporal punishment. Forty percent of mothers in this National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded study report parenting practices that increase the risk of poor youth developmental outcomes. Analyses of collateral data supported the usefulness of the indicated profiles. The important implications of these findings for intervention services are discussed.

The Validity of Truant Youths’ Marijuana Use and Its Impact on Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Taking

Few studies investigating the validity of marijuana use have used samples of truant youths. In the current study, self-reports of marijuana use are compared with urine test results for marijuana to identify marijuana underreporting among adolescents participating in a longitudinal brief intervention for drug-involved truant youths. It was hypothesized that marijuana underreporting would be associated with alcohol underreporting and engaging in sexual risk behaviors. The results indicated marijuana underreporting was significantly associated with self-denial of alcohol use, but not associated with sexual risk behavior. Also, there was an age effect in marijuana use underreporting such that younger truant youths were more likely to underreport marijuana use, compared to older truant youths. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

The school-to-prison pipeline: structuring legal reform

Increasingly, and especially through the mid to late 1990s, both the empirical literature and the media have been drawing attention to school crime and school violence. Some attribute this to what has been referred to as the “school shooting moral panic” that ensued during this time frame most recognizable by the responses to highly-publicized school shooting tragedies, such as those at Pearl High School and Columbine High School. Others contend that attention to school safety was the result of fear of the “juvenile superpredator.” This term was coined by political scientist John DeIulio, and the “juvenile super-predator” was characterized as a callous, sociopathic, incorrigible youth, capable of committing the most violent of crimes. DeIulio and colleagues formerly contended (but have since retracted) that the number of “juvenile super-predators” would increase over the years and, as such, society can expect increases in violent crime, and needs to prepare itself to manage these so-called dangerous persons. Others perceive the increase in attention to be a result of the overall “get tough” on crime attitude that typified the juvenile (and adult) justice system during the 1990s. In any event, it is clear that school safety has emerged as its own sub-area, and continues to be an important context in which to study crime and delinquency. While the causes of the emergence of school safety awareness are numerous, so are the corresponding policy responses. In 1994, the federal Gun Free Schools Act was passed, requiring states to adopt “Zero-Tolerance” policies, referring to formal disciplinary codes that mandate “get tough” responses to a range of student behaviors. Such policies sometimes required automatic referral to the juvenile justice system, and specific behaviors that yielded such responses were often left to the state or school district to define. School safety funding was made available to schools to be used for the purchase of school safety site assessments, equipment such as metal detectors, and other building security technologies. Funding was also made available to hire School Resource Officers (SROs) to police school premises. These policy changes, coupled with unprecedented increases in student enrollment, have drastically changed the student environment over the past several years. JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION VOLUME 22 NUMBER 4 (DECEMBER 2011)