Exploring factors associated with chronic and serious offending in detained dual system youth

Abstract

Young people who have both child protection and youth justice contact have been termed ‘dual system youth’. Dual system youth have been found to engage in more frequent and serious offending than justice-involved youth without child protection histories. It is unclear which psychological factors contribute to offending amongst dual-system youth. This study aimed to examine associations between child protection involvement, psychological/behavioural factors, and justice system involvement. The sample comprised 192 young people detained in juvenile correctional centres across two sites in Victoria, Australia between July 2011 and June 2012. Instruments were administered to gauge psychopathology and behaviour, while information regarding demographic details, child protection history, and offence data were obtained from client files. Results indicated that having a child protection history was associated with having both a violent index offence and a higher number of previous orders. Sensitivity to anger was also associated with having a violent index offence, while being male and aged 17–18 were associated with a higher number of previous orders. Child protection history moderated the relationship between Indigenous status and the number of prior orders, and between externalising symptoms and prior orders. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.