Toward a Theory of the Genesis of Violence: A Follow-up Study of Delinquents

• NCJ Number: 117895
• Author(s): D D Femina, D Lewis, R Lovely, C Yeager
• Date Published: January 1989
• Length: 6 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored

Annotation

This paper reports the results of a seven-year follow-up study of 95 formerly incarcerated juveniles, all but six of whom had adult criminal records.

Abstract

The authors found that juvenile violence alone did not distinguish well between those who would and would not commit violence as adults. Seventy-seven percent of the more violent and 61 percent of the less violent juveniles committed adult aggressive offenses. A constellation of certain kinds of neuropsychiatric vulnerabilities interacting with violent abusive family environments was a better predictor of adult violent crime. 3 tables, 20 references. (Author abstract modified)