Juvenile courts are tasked with evaluating cases of suspected juvenile offending and determining which youth to channel into the justice system (i.e., “formal processing”) and which to divert from formal processing (i.e., “informal processing”). How are these decisions made? How should they be made?
Unfortunately, there is very little empirical research aimed at understanding the long-term outcomes associated with formal and informal processing during adolescence. The Crossroads study was designed to fill this gap and is currently following over 1,000 male youth who were arrested for the first time during adolescence. Youth were recruited into the study shortly after their first arrest, and they have been interviewed regularly for the past nine years. The primary goal of the study is to understand the extent to which formal processing (i.e., processing in court) is related to better (or worse) long-term outcomes than informal processing (i.e., diversion).