ASSAULTIVE YOUTH - AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE ASSAULTIVE EXPERIENCE AND ASSAULTIVE POTENTIAL OF CALIFORNIA YOUTH AUTHORITY WARDS

DATA COLLECTED PRIOR TO THE ASSAULTIVE ACT WAS USED TO DETERMINE OFFENDER CHARACTERISTICS INDICATIVE OF ASSAULT PRONENESS. THREE SEPARATE STATISTICAL APPROACHES WERE USED TO ANALYZE 100 VARIABLES OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION, INTELLIGENCE AND APTITUDE, AND PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS, A 15 MONTH POST-RELEASE FOLLOW-UP WAS CONDUCTED, AND AN ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO DEVELOP A BEHAVIORAL INDEX. THE REPORT ALSO CONTAINS A REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH. FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ON THE VIOLENT OFFENDER, THE AUTHORS RECOMMEND A BETTER OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF VIOLENCE, THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN EFFICIENT OFFENDER CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA COLLECTION METHODS, TESTING PROCEDURES, AND EVALUATION TECHNIQUES DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO ASSESS VIOLENCE PRONENESS.