The Relationship of Neighborhood Conditions and Deviant Labels to Violent Delinquency Among Korean Male Youth on Probation: The Mediating Role of Deviant Peer Affiliation

Background and Purpose: Preventing recidivism among youth on probation is a pivotal task, which could lead them to a safe return to society and diminish the crime rate and social cost (Sim, 2023). Thus, building upon prior research, it is important to understand what mechanism and theory can account for youth’s violent delinquency, which is the most significant indicator of recidivism (Choi, 2018), for preventing and reducing the risk of recidivism. Given existing criminological theories—General Strain Theory (which emphasizes the role of environmental stressors), Social Organization Theory (highlighting structural neighborhood factors), and Labeling Theory (focusing on societal stigma)—this study aims to clarify whether deviant peer affiliation acts as a mechanism linking disadvantaged neighborhood conditions and deviant labels to youth violent delinquency. From a sample of South Korean male juveniles on probation, the current study proposes and tests the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Drawing on the general strain theory and social organization theory, the study hypothesizes that deviant peer affiliation would mediate the association between neighborhood conditions and violent delinquency; Hypothesis 2: Drawing on the labeling theory, the study hypothesizes that deviant peer affiliation would mediate the association between deviant labels and violent delinquency.

Methods: This study employed public data from the Survey on the Actual Situation and Policy Support Measures for Stable Social Settlement of Juvenile Prisoners in South Korea. The Survey was conducted by the Korea Criminal Policy Research Institute in 2018, focusing on youth who are on probation. Data from 329 males were included in the analysis, excluding data on 10 participants due to a high number of missing data. Violent delinquency was measured with three items by asking a participant’s thoughts or experiences (strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (3)) (α = .78). Neighborhood conditions were measured with four items asking the condition of the place where the participant spends most of the time (strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (3)) (α = .82). Deviant labels were measured using two items with response options ranging from strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (3) (α = .81). Deviant peer affiliation was measured with one item: “I had a lot of friends who have an experience of delinquency,” with response options including strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (3). Covariates were included in the analysis. To evaluate the proposed hypothesis, the study examined the mediating effect of deviant peer affiliation on the association of neighborhood conditions and deviant labels with violent delinquency.

Results: In the mediation analysis, the result indicated that deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between neighborhood conditions and violent delinquency (Coef = .036, 95% CI = .008, .06). Likewise, deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between deviant labels and violent delinquency (Coef = .053, 95% CI = .018, .10) while holding covariates constant.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings underscore the importance of identifying and intervening in youth on probation engaging in deviant peers and their exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods and deviant labels, which are considerable markers for the risk of violent delinquency.