Life course and intergenerational effects of criminal justice involvement: Identifying risks, the search for resilience, and the impact of rise in opioid misuse and the Covid-19 pandemic

This proposal seeks to extend the existing data collection for The Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) and its intergenerational extension, the Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS). RYDS was initiated by OJJDP as one of three prospective, longitudinal studies to investigate the causes and correlates of delinquency and drug use during childhood and adolescence utilizing a developmental approach to the study of crime. RYDS began in 1988 with the enrollment of 1,000 public middle school students and their primary guardian. The researchers purposefully used a stratified sampling approach to over-represent those students who were considered to be at higher risk for serious delinquency and drug use by: (1) oversampling males, and (2) oversampling adolescents from areas of Rochester where high proportions of adult offenders lived. The initial RYDS sample was 73% male and predominantly African American (68% African American, 17% Hispanic, and 15% white). The proposed extension of RYDS would include two additional biannual interviews of G2s and updating the criminal history record information for all G2s. These data collection will allow the researchers to construct patterns of offending and criminal justice involvement from adolescence through middle adulthood, examine the correlates and consequences associated with these patterns of behavior, and examine whether these patterns of behavior moderate the impact of COVID-19 on social, economic, and health outcomes.

The proposed extension of RIGS would include: expanding the G3 sample to all eligible first-born children of G2s; conducting two biannual interviews with a sample size of approximately 640 G3s born in 2003 or earlier (making them at least 18 years of age in 2022, the proposed year of the next interview wave); and collecting criminal history record information for the G3 sample. This inquiry will include the exploration of continuity and the search for patterns of resilience and escalation (as well as potential mediating factors) in order to identify malleable targets for prevention and intervention programming to prevent late-onset and/or escalation in offending and other risk behavior.

The proposed expansion of the data collection would include development and collection of content related to: COVID-19; the opioid epidemic; Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) such as incarceration, suicidality, and homelessness; community disadvantage and risk factors; and patterns of residential mobility. Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF