Academic remediation, parole violations, and recidivism rates among delinquent youths

Given the close association of academic achievement not only to delinquency , but also to recidivism, further examination of this Variable is warranted . We examined the records of 505 delinquent males committed to a state corr ectional facility during a recent 7-year period (1991-1997 inclusive). For each of the 7 years, three groups were identified: one group receiving reme diation in math, one group receiving remediation in reading, and one group receiving no remediation, Results indicated that members of the remedial gr oups were twice as likely to be recidivists or parole violators as members of the nonremedial group. Factors predictive of membership in the remedial groups included verbal IQ, race, and age of first commitment.