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Family, School, Peers, and Recidivism Among South Korean Juvenile Offenders: an Event History Analysis

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Abstract

This study examined the influence of family, school, and delinquent peers as well as demographic and criminal behavior variables on recidivism and the timing of recidivism with a sample of 9,988 South Korean juvenile offenders. Event history analysis was employed to determine not only if juvenile offenders recidivated but, if so, how long after release they committed another crime. The findings indicate that school affects not only the recidivism rates but also the timing of recidivism. Juvenile offenders with low levels of education, low GPA scores, and school absence records were found to be both more likely and more promptly to reoffend than others. This finding is consistent with those of some of the prior studies emphasizing the importance of education in both recidivism and the timing of recidivism. Unlike the previous findings in Western society, however, family and peer-related variables were not found significant in a South Korean sample.

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Notes

  1. From the original data containing 9,989 instances, one case was deleted as it had missing values more than 50 % of the variables collected. All cases were examined for extreme values and none were found. Collinearity diagnostics showed that there was no problem with multicollinearity among independent and control variables (The highest correlation-Spearman’s rho was 0.598 between broken family and family conflict and the lowest Tolerance value was 0.601 on broken family).

  2. To a certain extent, all self-reported questionnaires may have desirability bias. Especially, juvenile inmates in these facilities tend to conceal any disadvantageous information (i.e., covert prior delinquencies) to receive favorable adjudication from the court. To address the issue of inmates’ false statements, family courts require staff members in JPEI to attach additional observation documents about their behaviors while staying in JPEI. False statements, if found, have negative effects on the final adjudication; to deter juvenile inmates from providing false statements, they are clearly and continuously informed of the negative consequences.

  3. Father and mother’s parenting style, originally consisting of five categories (rejective, protective, oppressive, obedient, and inconsistent) was recoded into two categories: protective or non-protective.

  4. The hazard rate, h(t), is the probability that persons who did not experience an event (e.g., re-arrest) at the beginning of a specified time interval (e.g., month) will experience the event during that interval. In each time interval, the hazard rate can be calculated by dividing the number of events by the number of individuals at risk.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, California State University-Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA, 93311-1022, USA

    Heejong Jacob Joo

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, The College at Brockport, State University of New York, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport, NY, 14420-2951, USA

    Youngoh Jo

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Correspondence to Heejong Jacob Joo.

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Joo, H.J., Jo, Y. Family, School, Peers, and Recidivism Among South Korean Juvenile Offenders: an Event History Analysis. Asian Criminology 10, 99–116 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-015-9205-2

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