The Impact of Family Support on Juvenile Recidivism

Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) evaluation, this study investigates the extent to which family emotional and instrumental support influence youth rearrest and reincarceration. Data include interviews with 191 male youth, which took place 3 months post-release. Recidivism was captured using official rearrest and reincarceration data over a follow up period of 676 days (22 months). Using logistic regression, this study tests 4 hypotheses: (1) Youth with higher levels of family emotional support are less likely to be rearrested, (2) Youth with higher levels of family instrumental support are less likely to be rearrested, (3) Youth with higher levels of family emotional support are less likely to be reincarcerated, (4) Youth with higher levels of family instrumental support are less likely to be reincarcerated. These hypotheses were partially supported. The findings in this study have implications for policies and research in regards to family emotional support and successful youth reentry.