The use of multiple social services among chronically offending youth

• Pat Jobes
• August 2004
• Criminology Research Council grant ; (35/03-04) [Project title: Police cautioning in Queensland : the impact of juvenile offending trajectories]

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Abstract

Research in criminology long ago established that a small proportion of offenders account for a high proportion of crime. The possibility that chronic offenders may also have involvement with multiple social services has been noted in social science and social services literature, though precise evidence for this is limited. This paper summarises: research findings, explanations and policy implications by addressing the magnitude of multiple service use by chronic offenders among young people; underlying factors for chronic juvenile offending; issues of access, process, experience and outcomes that distinguish chronic offenders from non-chronic offenders; how these factors contribute to variations in the relationship between chronic offending and multiple service use; the costs of offending and the provision of services; the most effective practices for managing at-risk populations in order to reduce offending; and policy implications of the research findings.