Recidivism in Australia : findings and future research - Australian ...

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Recidivism in Australia: findings and future research
(continued)
Selected recidivism research 1995–2006
Publication
year Title Key recidivism findings Comments
Author
Analysis revealed that juveniles with a higher
rate of prior conviction tended to be:
• appearing for property offences or
offences against the person
This South Australian study looked at the
extent of juvenile contact with the Youth
Court. Using court conviction data from
the year 2000 the analysis found that:
• 1,616 young people accounted for 2,052
appearances at the youth court where at
least one charge for that appearance was
proven guilty (conviction);
• 53% of the youth appearing in 2000, had
no prior conviction dating back to 1996
(four years);
• 18% had one prior conviction, 11% had
two prior convictions and 18% had three
or more prior convictions dating back
to 1996 (four years).
Doherty J 2002 Repeat contact
with the juvenile
justice system:
contact with the
Youth Court
• male
• Indigenous.
This research used both prospective and
retrospective analysis to measure the reoffending
behaviour for a sample of 334 juvenile male
sex offenders convicted in Western Australia
between 1990 and 1998. The index offence
was the first sexual offence conviction within
this time. The study used court conviction data,
supplemented with police arrest data to measure
reoffending for up to eight years after the index
offence. The results showed:
• 48% of the offenders had no convictions
prior to the index offence – the index
offence was the first recorded conviction
• 48% had prior convictions, although only
one juvenile offender had a prior conviction
for a sex offence
• 67% recorded a new conviction after
the index offence; the majority were
for offences other than sex offences.
Allan A et al. 2003 Recidivism among
male juvenile
sexual offenders in
Western Australia