An Exploration of Impediments to Attachment in a Juvenile Offender Population: Comparisons between Juvenile Sex Offenders, Juvenile Violent Offenders And Juvenile Non-Sex, Non-Violent Offenders

This current study addresses potential impediments to attachment that may differentiate between incarcerated juveniles who have committed sexual crimes and incarcerated juveniles who have not committed such offenses. The exploration of such potential barriers to attachment has been organized around Bronfenbrenner\u27s Ecological Model. Subjects were 2948 incarcerated male adolescents adjudicated to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and were divided based solely upon adjudicating offense: Juvenile non-violent, non-sexual offenders (JNVNSO, n=1149), Juvenile violent, non-sexual offenders (JVNSO, n=1433) and Juvenile sexual offenders (JSO, n=366). Results indicated that JSOs differed from JNVNSOs and JVNSOs in their histories of sexual abuse as well as placements in foster care. Attachment impairment and the number of risk factors present were also found to be significantly related. Future research directions and potential policy repercussions are also addressed