Trauma and Gang Affiliation Increase Likelihood of Committing Assault among Juveniles Admitted to Secure Custody.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the prediction of involvement in serious physical assault from risk factors collected during routine screening of juveniles admitted to secure custody with a focus on trauma and gang affiliation and an exploration of gender differences in risk. METHODS: We analyzed administrative data collected on 879 juvenile offenders (93% boys; M age = 17 years; 71% Black, 19% Hispanic, 9% White, 1% other race/ethnicity), including extensive data on histories of trauma exposure and other risk as well as gang affiliation. RESULTS: We found that participation in serious assault was linked to gender, gang affiliation, and both witnessing and experiencing various traumatic events. Contrary to predictions, we did not observe a significant interaction between trauma histories and gang affiliation in predicting serious physical assault. CONCLUSIONS: Trauma and gang affiliation are critical yet understudied aspects of violence perpetration in the justice-involved youth population, particularly among clinical child and adolescent psychologists. These results underscore the importance of continued efforts by clinical psychologists to enhance research and practice related to these issues for this population.

Trauma Exposure and Mental Health Needs Among Adolescents Involved With the Juvenile Justice System.

Justice-involved adolescents typically report high levels of lifetime trauma exposure, although research on juvenile justice system-wide screenings is limited. Further, there is little evidence from research on the psychological and substance abuse treatment related needs of youth relative to the trauma levels or types of trauma experienced by justice-involved adolescents. We documented lifetime exposure to traumatic events and its relation to psychological and substance use concerns in a sample of adolescents admitted to custody in the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission. This study examined lifetime exposure to traumatic events experienced by justice-involved adolescents (N = 627) using negative binomial regression modeling and zero-inflated negative binomial regression modeling to identify which adolescents have the greatest trauma exposure, and determine how cumulative types of trauma relate to youths' mental health and substance use needs. Adolescents reported experiencing an average of 4 of 17 traumatic exposures on the Life Events Checklist. The most common traumas experienced directly and indirectly were physical assault and assault with a weapon. Considering particular traumas, there were differences in exposures based on race and ethnicity, sex, child welfare involvement, and gang affiliation. Higher levels of some types of traumatic exposure were consistently related to higher levels of mental health needs. Results indicate that adolescents enter the juvenile justice system with high levels of polytraumatization. These adverse events are associated with elevated mental health and substance use needs that should be considered in case planning.