Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics of Delinquent Children and Factors Associated with Recidivism

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies have shown that the prevalence and rate of delinquency in adolescents tends to increase during adolescence and decreases rapidly from the 20s to the early 30s. Juvenile delinquency is considered as a serious social problem because it is often occurs at a young age, is repeated and is often committed as a group. In this study, we aimed to investigate the demographic and clinical characteristics of children between the ages of 12 and 18 who engage in delinquent behavior and the factors that contribute to recidivism. Methods: Children between the ages of 12 and 18 who were referred by the judicial authorities for alleged crimes were included in the study. The files of the children were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, psychiatric diagnoses, types of crimes, intelligence levels, family history of crime, number of crimes were evaluated and the factors associated with recidivism behaviors were investigated. Results: A total of 91 children referred by the judicial authorities to the outpatient clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry were included in the study. The average age of the children at the time of the offense was 14.10±1.25 years and 87 (95.6%) were boys and 4 (4.4%) were girls. At least one active psychopathology was found in 38 (41.8%) of the cases. The most frequent psychiatric disorders among the psychopathologies during the study were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in 19 (50.0%) children and conduct disorder in 17 (44.7%) children. The presence of a family criminal history (p=0.024), school attendance (p<0.001), parental employment status (p=0.024), lifetime use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs (p=0.005), the presence of peers involved in criminal offenses (p=0.011) and the presence of a psychiatric disorder (p<0.001) in the child were found to be associated with recidivism. Conclusion: Risk factors associated with delinquent behavior in childhood are also among the important risk factors for recidivism. Although the male gender has a higher risk for delinquent behavior, there are many individual, environmental, and familial factors that contribute to such behavior, such as psychiatric disorders, a family history of crime, peer environment, and dropping out of school.

Keywords

• adolescent
• juvenile delinquency
• recidivism
• risk factors

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