title: The Juvenile Sex Offender.
abstract: In this article, we investigate whether the life events of marriage, parenthood, and employment were associated with general offending for a Dutch sample of 498 juvenile sex offenders (JSOs). In previous empirical studies, these life events were found to limit adult general offending in the population as well as high-risk samples. A hybrid random effects model is used to investigate within-individual changes of these life events in association with general offending. We also investigated whether the findings differed for child abusers, peer abusers, and group offenders, as they have distinct background profiles. We found that JSOs make limited transitions into the state of marriage, parenthood, and employment, showing overall stagnating participation rates. For the entire sample of JSOs, employment was found to be associated with a decrease in offending. Group offenders benefited most from employment. Marriage and parenthood were not associated with the general offending patterns, whereas for child abusers, parenthood was associated with an increase in offending. We conclude that policies aimed at guidance toward employment, or inclusion into conventional society, may be effective for JSOs.
authors: 1 Leiden University, The Netherlands.
authors: Chantal
authors: C
authors: van Den Berg
authors: 2 VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Catrien
authors: C
authors: Bijleveld
authors: 2 VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Hendriks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010379:Peer Group; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: juvenile sex offender; life-course criminology; sex offender policies; sex offender typology; transitions