(PS4-C60) The Relationship Between Justice-involved Youth Maltreatment History and the Severity of Criminal Behavior

Over 670,000 new cases of child trauma(e.g., physical, sexual, emotional) are reported each year.  trauma in childhood is linked to PTSD and antisocial behaviors. Sexual trauma in childhood is supported to cause antisocial, violent, and criminogenic behaviors. Adolescents within the correctional system, termed Justice-Involved Youth (JIY) are disproportionately exposed to a higher frequency and severity of trauma than the general population of their peers. Previous literature has identified the correlation between trauma experience and likelihood of engaging in violence. However, no research has explored the link between trauma experience and crime severity in JIY. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between JIY abuse history and severity of crime committed. The study examined 560 male justice involved youth (JIY; n=560), their reported abuse history, and their initial offense type (i.e., citation vs. misdemeanor vs. felony). JIY were classified by their abuse history (e.g., sexual, physical, emotional and no abuse control). A manova analysis was performed to compare each group’s severity in criminal behavior using their crime classification (e.g., 1st degree felony, 2nd degree felony, etc.) into a numerical score, where increasing severity in crime classification indicated an increased number (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). Results found that the no-trauma group had significantly lower crime severity than the other 3 groups. This study contributed to the existing literature linking trauma history to criminal behavior in JIY.