Assessing violent offending in serious juvenile offenders

The convergent validity of the two most frequently used methods for assessing violent offending in juveniles (i.e., selfreports and arrests) was evaluated. Participants were 87 serious juvenile offenders and their maternal figures, primarily from disadvantaged families. Validation measures tapped established behavioral, family, and peer correlates of delinquency. Results failed to support the ability of either arrests for violent crimes or selfreported violent offenses to index violent criminal behavior accurately. Several methodological features of the study support our hypothesis that the findings were not spurious. Procedural and conceptual implications of the findings are discussed.The Family and Neighborhood Services Project was funded by Grant 2H87MH43557-04 to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors extend their most sincere appreciation to Commissioner Joseph Bevilacqua, Commissioner Richard McLawhorn, Joe James, Dale Chandler, Madeline Blackwell, Kristen Rowden, Pam King, Nancy King, Nancy Yue, and Jerry DeLoye.