UW News

March 17, 1997

Juvenile Offenders: Impacts Felt from Courtrooms to Emergency Rooms

Juvenile offenders are much more likely to be hospitalized for an injury than nonoffenders. In a study by the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) and the UW Department of Pediatrics, it was discovered that hospitalization of male juvenile offenders for trauma is more than 2.5 times that of nonoffenders. Female offenders have a 62 percent greater risk of trauma.
Overwhelmingly, the greatest risk to juvenile offenders for trauma is from intentional injury, especially that attributable to firearms, and from drug overdoses. “This study makes it quite clear that if a kid is headed in the wrong direction in terms of criminal behavior his or her chances of suffering a traumatic injury are greatly increased,” said Dr. Fred Rivara, co-author of the study, UW professor of pediatrics, and director of the HIPRC. “We are all well aware of the increasing levels of juvenile crime. However, this study points out that the consequences of such behavior reach beyond law enforcement and justice circles and impacts the safety and health of these kids as well as our health care system in general.”

The study linked two data bases, one that tracks hospital admissions and one that maintains juvenile justice data, and looked at the records of 4,064 males and 2,929 females aged 13 to 17 over a four year period. Additional findings include:

Substance abuse and resulting overdoses or similar poisonings was five times more common among male and three times more common among female delinquents than nondelinquents.

Self-inflicted injuries were more than twice as common among the delinquent group.

Male juvenile offenders experienced a threefold increased risk of an injury due to interpersonal violence.

More than half of all male adolescents who were hospitlaized for trauma due to unintentional drug overdose, hanging, stabbing, assault, or for any injury whose intent was undetermined were, or would become, deliquents.

Male juvenile offenders accounted for approximately two-thirds of all gunshot wounds and one-third of motor vehicle crashes, the most common causes of injury deaths in this age group.

“If there is a silver lining to this,” said Rivara, “it would be that for those kids who are hospitalized for injury preceding arrest, the injury may serve as an opportunity for responsible adults to intervene to prevent further delinquent behavior down the road.”

[The study was released on the new electronic format of Pediatrics, and can be found at www.pediatrics.org.]