Getting Locked up: The Correlates of Incarceration Among Transition-Age Youth in Foster Care

Background: Research suggests that young people transitioning out of foster care are disproportionately at risk for a range of negative outcomes including criminal justice system involvement (Cusick, Havlicek, & Courtney, 2012; Lee, Courtney, & Tajima, 2014)). Despite what is known in the general population, far less is understood about the correlates of juvenile justice system involvement among youth in foster care. Specifically, research is needed to advance intervention development that targets malleable risk factors known to be associated with poor developmental outcomes in this population. States that take up the option of extending foster care to 21 are in particular need of a better  understanding of the risks associated with criminal justice involvement for transition-age youth and the practice and policy supports that can reduce these risks.

Method: Data for this study were drawn from interviews with participants from the Baseline Youth Survey of the CalYOUTH Study (n = 611), when study participants were 17 years old on average. The outcome variable is a dichotomous measure of whether youth had ever been confined in a jail, prison, or any other correctional or juvenile detention facility in connection with allegedly committing a crime. The independent variables included five blocks of covariates: 1) demographic characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity, county ubanicity), 2) maltreatment and placement history, 3) institutional and social bonds (education, employment, satisfaction with foster care experience), 4) mental health and substance use disorder diagnoses, and, 5) delinquency (violent criminal behavior, drug sales, property and other crimes). Binary logistic regression models examined the association between these covariates and the estimated odds of incarceration.  

Results: Descriptive results indicate that 24% of the youth had been incarcerated. The logistic regression model containing all blocks of covariates indicated that several factors were associated with increased estimated odds of being incarcerated including: more placements in foster care (OR = 1.26, p < .05), ever having lived in a group home (OR = 2.45, p < .01), and more violent crimes in the past year (OR = 1.38, p <.01). Increased levels of satisfaction with the foster care system and symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of depression were both associated with decreased odds of being incarcerated (OR = .85, p < .05; OR = .49, p < .05 respectively).

Conclusions and Implications: This study finds no association between demographic characteristics and having gone to jail or prison, once controlling for self-reported delinquent behavior. However, the associations between placement instability, group care placement, and violent behavior provide guidance for targeting strategies for preventing the involvement of youth in foster care with the juvenile corrections system.  Encouragingly, the link between youths’ satisfaction with their experience in the foster care system and the lower odds of incarceration suggest that positive institutional bonds may act protectively during early development and the critical period of the transition to adulthood. Implications of how institutional bonds can be promoted by the social work profession are discussed.