A Study of Youth Reoffending in Calgary

Date
2009-01
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Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family
Abstract
In 2006, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family began work on a three-year study of youth offending in Calgary. One objective of the study was to develop a model for better understanding why some youth become more seriously involved in crime, while others do not. The first year of the study established a baseline for this model by developing profiles of youth offending in Calgary.1 With funding from the Alberta Law Foundation, and in partnership with City of Calgary Community and Neighbourhood Services and the Calgary Police Service, the purpose of current report is to use Calgary Police Service data to determine which of the 123 youth profiled in the original study sample went on to reoffend, and further, which factors differentiate repeat from non-repeat offenders. This report will contribute to the body of research on risk and protective factors for youth offending, and further assist the Calgary Police Service, City of Calgary Community and Neighbourhood Services, and other youth-serving agencies, as well as those who work in the youth justice field in general (i.e., judges, lawyers) in developing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs for youth offenders. The objectives of this report are to: Re-examine the files of the 123 youth in the study sample and determine how the study groups differed on individual, family, peer, school, and community factors; Identify factors that are related to youth reoffending; and Determine the factors that are most important in predicting which youth continued to reoffend from those who did not.
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Citation
MacRae, L.D., Bertrand, L.D., Paetsch, J.J., Hornick, J.P., & DeGusti, B. (2009). A Study of Youth Reoffending in Calgary. Prepared for the Alberta Law Foundation. Calgary, AB: Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family.