The Next Generation of Prisoners

Abstract

Violent behavior by juveniles, along with the juvenile incarceration rate, has been on the decline in the past several years. Despite these declines, institutionalized juveniles, particularly violent offenders, constitute the population most at risk of becoming the next generation of adult prisoners. Using a sample of youth incarcerated in the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), this article first examines gender differences among numerous self-report measures including but not limited to violence, maltreatment, life stress, and depression. Next, multivariate analysis revealed that age, minority status, substance dependency, life stress, and gang membership were significantly related to violent offending. Analyses also revealed that numerous variables were related to depression among incarcerated male and female delinquents. This article ends with a discussion of policy implications for incarcerated delinquents.