Juveniles arrested for murder: A latent class analysis of male offenders

Researchers and practitioners have a need for valid and generalizable typologies of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) to better understand the heterogeneous nature of JHOs, and use this knowledge to inform prevention efforts. Prior studies of JHOs have typically utilized a clinical approach, which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral sciences & the law 2021-08, Vol.39 (4), p.470-491
Main Authors: Fox, Bryanna, Heide, Kathleen, Khachatryan, Norair, Michel, Cedric, Cochran, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrests
Heterogeneity
Homicide
juvenile homicide offenders
juvenile murderers
Juvenile offenders
juveniles
Knowledge base
Knowledge bases (artificial intelligence)
Latent class analysis
male offenders
Males
Murder
Murders & murder attempts
Prevention programs
Subtypes
Taxonomy
typologies
Victims
Violent offenders
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Summary:Researchers and practitioners have a need for valid and generalizable typologies of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) to better understand the heterogeneous nature of JHOs, and use this knowledge to inform prevention efforts. Prior studies of JHOs have typically utilized a clinical approach, which is rich in data but based on small nonrepresentative samples, or relied on larger aggregate datasets which are more reliable but have few measures available. This study aimed to address these limitations by examining the latent heterogeneity (i.e. unapparent differences) in JHOs, their victims, and incident characteristics among more than 40,000 male JHOs arrested in the United States between 1976 and 2016 using latent class analysis, to allow for the objective identification of latent taxonomies. Six distinct subtypes of male JHOs are found in the analysis, which contributes to the theoretical and substantive knowledge base regarding JHOs, and may be used to develop and implement more effective interventions and violence prevention programs for these young offenders.
ISSN:0735-3936
1099-0798
DOI:10.1002/bsl.2531