Research on Pathways to Desistance Series
The Pathways
to Desistance study is a multi-site, longitudinal study of serious
adolescent offenders as they transition from adolescence into early
adulthood. Between November, 2000 and January, 2003, 1,354 adjudicated
youths from the juvenile and adult court systems in Maricopa County
(Phoenix), Arizona (N = 654) and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (N
= 700) were enrolled into the study.
The enrolled youth were at
least 14 years old and under 18 years old at the time of their
committing offense and were found guilty of a serious offense
(predominantly felonies, with a few exceptions for some misdemeanor
property offenses, sexual assault, or weapons offenses).
Each
study participant was followed for a period of seven years past
enrollment, with the end result a comprehensive picture of life
changes in a wide array of areas over the course of this
time.
The study sought to inform the ongoing debate in the
juvenile justice system regarding the treatment and processing of
serious adolescent offenders. The larger aim of the Pathways series is
to improve decision-making by court and social service personnel and
to clarify policy debates about alternatives for serious adolescent
offenders.
Additional datasets from the Pathways study will be
released during 2013. These datasets will include
official records information (e.g. re-arrest, placement), and monthly
life-calendar data on a range of topics (e.g. school, work). These
additional datasets will not be publicly available, but rather made
available through ICPSR's restricted data access system.
For
more information, please visit the Research on Pathways to
Desistance web site.