Criminal Justice Student Working to Curb Future Juvenile Criminal Activity
August 11, 2025 - Ana Murillo
Ana Murillo is a Michigan State University undergraduate student studying Criminal Justice. Ana partnered with Dr. Caitlin Cavanagh (Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice) on this University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum research project.
In 2021, researchers Michael Baglivio (University of South Florida) and Kevin Wolff (John Jay College, City University of New York) found that juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) accounted for roughly ¼ of all sex offenses in the U.S. and more than ⅓ of sex offenses against minors. Despite this, JSOs represent a subset of the criminal population that has long been understudied. As a result, under the guidance of Dr. Caitlin Cavanagh, I chose to focus my research around JSOs in my project entitled: Descriptive Analyses on Deviant Behavior in Juvenile Sexual Offenders.
More specifically, my research utilizes the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol (J-SOAP), a 28-item risk assessment that predicts the likelihood of sexual recidivism for juveniles. To further understand patterns of behavior in JSOs, this study narrows down the J-SOAP assessment to focus on five variables to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between degree of planning, sexualized aggression, sexual drive/preoccupation, sexual victimization history, and remorse & guilt in juvenile sex offenders?
In partnership with a local juvenile court, data from 222 youth enrolled in the juvenile sex offender program from 2004-2025 was analyzed. Youth responses to questions assessing degree of planning, sexualized aggression, sexual drive/preoccupation, sexual victimization history, and remorse & guilt were scored on a scale of 0-2. Statistical analysis was then used to answer the research question and determine if there were significant correlations between groups.
After analysis, we found that for youth in the sex offender program there were no statistically significant differences for sexualized aggression by degree of planning, sexual drive/preoccupation, sexual victimization history, and remorse & guilt. Furthermore, the majority of youth had no known victimization history, no gratuitous or expressive aggression, exhibited a mild degree of planning, normative-minimal sex drives, and displayed some remorse though they were still egocentric.
Based on these results, there are no clear patterns of behavior among JSO in regard to the studied variables that we can see. While initially these results were surprising, it makes sense considering this study only looked at youth tried in juvenile court. By nature, youth processed through the juvenile court system have less severe offense compared to juveniles waived to adult court. It's possible that the inclusion of juveniles with sex offense charges who were waived to adult court in future studies could reveal more significant correlations between variables.
I was interested in studying patterns of behaviors in juvenile sex offenders because in general I am interested in the nuances of how and why violent crimes are committed. Studying JSOs is important because by better understanding this population, we can better inform rehabilitative efforts focused on curbing future criminal activity. Hopefully, future research can expand upon the results of this study by identifying patterns of behavior among JSOs and establishing different potential typologies. This can aid the development of targeted intervention strategies aimed at reducing recidivism and limiting further contact with the justice system.