Recidivism of juvenile homicide offenders.

Serious offenses against persons perpetrated by juveniles raise fundamental questions about the background, causes, and prevention of future crime. The current study addresses the potential of future crime of all juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) in the Netherlands in the period 1992-2007. In contrast to former research on recidivism of JHOs, which has been merely descriptive, the present study integrates theoretical perspectives as to why some of these juveniles turn back to crime, while others do not. To this end, relationships are investigated between recidivism behavior and risk factors. Results indicate that male JHOs, and JHOs who maintain relationships with delinquents, run a greater risk of reoffending.