Criminal Justice Review

Application of the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model in adult correctional research and practice is well developed, but remains underway in the juvenile justice system. The RNR model may facilitate a shift from punitive practices in the juvenile justice system toward individualized assessment and treatment of youth fostering rehabilitation and reintegration. This article reviews the history of the RNR model in adult correctional settings, its theoretical application to the juvenile justice system, and available tools and literature utilizing RNR principles in juvenile justice settings. Criticisms of applying the RNR model to the juvenile justice system and future research directions are addressed.

The purpose of this study was to examine how individual- and contextual-level factors affect both personal concerns about crime and concerns about crime for one’s spouse or significant other, family, and friends. We were also interested in whether and how these factors differed by gender. We combined individual-level data from a telephone survey of U.S. adults (N = 1,207) with contextual-level data from the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, and the Uniform Crime Reports. We found that respondents were more concerned about crime for others than for themselves. Results from our ordered logit models showed that concerns about crime for self and others were greater for respondents who felt less safe from crime and for respondents who used constrained behaviors. Personal concerns about crime were greater for women and concerns about crime for one’s spouse or significant other were greater for men. Contextual-level factors had little or no effect on concerns about crime. Regarding concerns about crime for one’s self and one’s spouse or significant other, there were also important differences by gender. For example, weapons behaviors mattered only for women and quality of life mattered only for men.

Few studies have examined how the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity may manifest differences in the effects of crime-related media on fear of crime. This study examines the relationships between various forms of crime-related media on fear of crime with a sample disaggregated by gender to ascertain if crime-related media consumption works differently for women and men. Race/ethnic differences within gender were also examined. Only slight differences between men and women were found and differences across race/ethnicity within gender groups were minor. Therefore, despite the prevalence of White female victims in crime-related media, media messages of risk, and fear seem to influence viewers similarly regardless of gender or race, providing additional support for cultivation theory and mainstreaming effects.

Spatial–temporal interaction analysis is employed to identify repeat and near-repeat patterns of crime in time and space. Most research to date addresses burglary and shooting incidents. Using the Knox method for space–time interaction, this study analyzes crime data in 12 “super neighborhoods” located in Houston’s crime-heavy southwest quadrant to explore spatial–temporal clustering of three types of crime, namely, residential burglary, street robbery, and aggravated assault. The findings suggest that each type of crime event has a unique clustering signature. Residential burglaries show significant space–time clustering in a relatively longer time range (up to 90 days) and distance interval (up to 1.55 miles). In contrast, street robberies present significant clustering only up to 6 days and a quarter of a mile. For aggravated assault, the clusters of pairs occur within the interval of 7 days and within a little more than 1 mile of an initial assault. Examination of the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods indicates that crime events cluster more often in low income and racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Significant spatial correlations of crime clusters are detected. The findings offer insight into potential suppression of crime events that are time and space correlated.

This analysis examines the impact of established predictors on probation failure utilizing a large randomly selected sample of adult probationers. Initial findings suggest that race, gender, location, offense severity as well as risk assessment scores significantly predict probation failure. This study then examines interaction effects between race and gender as well as race and offense severity. Results indicate such interactions may matter in studying probation failure, despite reason to be cautious about their interpretation. Importantly, the results of the interaction model suggest that the interaction between being an African American and male is a significant predictor of probation failure. Additionally, being a Hispanic felon was also statistically significant. Theoretical, practical, and research implications are discussed alongside study limitations.