Institutionally Isolated Youth As Predictors of Delinquency and Crime

Background and Purpose: Although extant research seems to address, for the most part, the causes and correlates of juvenile delinquency on the individual level, we have much work to do in the realm of understanding the social environment and social attachments.  Emerging research in the field of juvenile delinquency prevention indicates that institutional attachments, such as attachments to school, labor market, and the military play a pivotal role in preventing and reducing criminality. Recent literature indicates many youth face barriers to institutional attachments due to social isolation. Emerging research indicates that some youth do not have equal opportunities to create social attachments due to their neighborhood, race, class, or other pressing risk factors. Recent research has found that a small number of chronically isolated 16-19 year old youth are disproportionately involved in delinquency and crime. The purpose of the current study is to examine the influence of an aggregate indicator of institutional isolation among youth and this groups influence on both violent and property crime across neighborhoods in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Methods: For the purposes of the current study, secondary crime data were analyzed. Data for the current study draw on violent and property crime as well as demographic, social, and economic characteristics of neighborhoods in a single city. We hypothesize that, across neighborhoods, the spatial distribution of institutionally isolated youth will emerge as a strong and robust predictor of variation in both violent and property crime counts. Institutionally isolated youth are defined as youth 16-19 years old who are simultaneously not in school, employed, or in the military. Neighborhoods were operationalized via Census tracts and analyses are based on data for 45 tracts. Hypotheses were tested using a Poisson-based estimator to predict variation across neighborhoods in crime counts.

Results: Descriptive statistics indicate that youth who are simultaneously isolated from school, the labor market, and the military comprise, on average, 12.18% of the population of 16-19 year olds across Little Rock neighborhoods.  We controlled for the influence of concentrated socioeconomic disadvantage, population stability, the racial and ethnic composition of the population, the overall youth population size, and the percent of residents currently enrolled in college. Isolated youth emerged as a statistically significant predictor of composite indices of property (p.< .01) and violent crime (p.<01) as well as homicide (p.<.01), assault (p.< 01), robbery (p.< .01) and motor vehicle theft (p. <.01). On average, a 12% increase in youth who are chronically isolated from mainstream institutions increases the percentage of crime anywhere from 35%-56%.

Conclusion: A growing body of research indicates the robust relationship between chronically isolated youth and juvenile delinquency. As such there is a critical need for research that examines additional mainstream social institutions such family, religion, and schools and their role in the lives of socially isolated youth. Social work should work quickly to begin assessing and addressing the needs of this extremely vulnerable population.