Juvenile Violent Crimes as Dynamic Processes: Spatial Regimes and Trajectories of Juvenile Violent Crimes

John Hellsten, Texas Department of Health
Sanjeev Sridharan, Caliber Associates
Heidi Vaughn, Caliber Associates
Lynette Greenfield, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice
Baron Blakely, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice

ABSTRACT
Our analysis focuses on trajectories of county-level juvenile violent crimes in Virginia between 1991-1998. General Mixture Modeling Techniques are implemented to study the dynanmics of county/city-level juvenile violent crimes. Latent class analysis is used to define regimes of risk behaviors in counties. The focus is on understanding the factors associated with different trajectories of juvenile violent crimes between 1991 to 1998. Factors examined in the study include measures of community well-being, children's health, family risks, and school success measures. The relevance of our framework for juvenile justice prevention policies is discussed.

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Updated 05/20/2006