The Mediating Role of Juvenile Justice Involvement from the Child Welfare to the Criminal Justice System

Background and Purpose:

Research shows that individuals with abuse and/or neglect histories are more likely to have involvement with the justice systems than those without such experiences, yet the specific mechanisms by which this operates are unclear. Limited studies address relationships between child welfare and criminal justice involvement, and little research has examined the mediating role of juvenile justice involvement. It is important to understand how race, out-of-home placements, and experiences with other service systems (mental health, drug/alcohol) affect these pathways. This study’s objective was to understand relationships between child welfare and criminal justice involvement, examining direct and indirect effects of out-of-home placement, other child welfare experiences, and other system contacts via mediation of juvenile justice involvement for both Black and White youth.

Methods:

The sample included all individuals born between 1985-1994 with child welfare involvement in a large, rust-belt county. For these analyses, we included all those whose child welfare involvement preceded any justice system contact (N=37,079) and a sub-sample with out-of-home placement in child welfare (n=7,839). The dependent variable was criminal justice involvement, measured by whether an individual spent time in the county jail. Demographic, child welfare, and other system receipt prior to justice system contact variables were included. Four path analysis models were estimated - two for the full sample and two for the out-of-home placement sample, with separate models for Black and White youth. The direct effect of juvenile justice on the dependent variable was estimated, as well as both the direct and indirect (mediated by juvenile justice) effects of all other variables.

Results:

In the full sample, experiencing out-of-home placement led to increased involvement in juvenile justice, which mediated the relationship with criminal justice involvement. For Black youth only, length of time in out-of-home placement was negatively related and total number of placements positively associated with juvenile justice involvement. Neither of these factors was a significant predictor for White youth. For Black youth, prior receipt of drug/alcohol services was associated with less juvenile justice involvement in both the full and placement samples, while in both the Black and White full samples, prior receipt of drug/alcohol services was a positive predictor of criminal justice involvement. Prior receipt of mental health services was positively related to justice involvement, and thus indirectly with criminal justice involvement, among Black and White youth in the full but not the placement samples.

Conclusions and Implications:

For all path models, juvenile justice involvement among child welfare-involved youth was positively related to criminal justice involvement. For both Black and White youth in the full sample, out-of-home child welfare placement led to an increase in juvenile justice involvement. Yet, within the Black placement sample, aspects of placement revealed complex relationships with juvenile justice involvement. Providing drug/alcohol services appears to be a protective factor, at least for Black youth prior to juvenile justice involvement. Articulating these relationships can help identify youth most at-risk of justice system involvement and better target services to these youths, particularly mental health and substance abuse services.