RT Article
T1 Preventing future crime in adolescent drug offenders: A study of differential sanction effects on recidivism
JF Criminology & criminal justice
VO 24
IS 1
SP 164
OP 183
A1 Sandøy, Thomas Anton
A1 Østhus, Ståle
A1 Bretteville-Jensen, Anne Line
A2 Østhus, Ståle
A2 Bretteville-Jensen, Anne Line
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1878572261
AB This study examines and compares the effects on recidivism of the three most common legal responses to minor drug offences for adolescents in Norway. The essential question is whether alternative sanctions are more effective in preventing any reoffending in young people than the traditional fine. Using a longitudinal register data set, comprising all 15- to 17-year-old, first-time drug offenders in the 2000–2015 period (N = 3276), we investigate differences in duration between first legal decision and second arrest and the number of offences during follow-up. Our findings suggest that rehabilitative measures, in the form of a conditional waiver of prosecution with specified conditions, were more effective in preventing recidivism in adolescent drug offenders than a fine. Given the design of this sanction, which includes follow-up by social services and monitoring of drug use by health services, deferrals in recidivism may be caused by both positive rehabilitation experiences and negative punishment experiences.
K1 sanction effects
K1 register data
K1 Recidivism
K1 Drugs
K1 Adolescents
DO 10.1177/17488958211070364