Kevin T Wolff
Biographic Data
| ID | 288181 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kevin T Wolff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kevin T |
| FAMILY NAME | Wolff |
| SIGNATURE | WOLFF K T |
| AFFILIATIONS | John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5383-2976 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 59 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 251 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Victimization among Justice-Involved Youth with Behavioral and Learning Needs
The current study investigates the association between behavioral and learning needs and victimization among a sample of justice-involved youth. Drawing from a large data set of adolescents involved in the justice system, bivariate and multivariable analyses explore how behavioral and learning needs are associated with victimization, including trauma, neglect, and violence exposure. Youth with justice involvement who have behavioral and learning …
Breaking point: Exploring side bets, support, and pension investment as predictors of turnover intention in urban policing
Assessing the potential benefits of community-based violence reduction efforts on clearance rates
In 2013, two well-known place-based gun violence reduction strategies were implemented in different neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Separate evaluations showed each strategy was associated with significant reductions in fatal and nonfatal shootings compared to statistically-matched areas. The current study assessed whether the interventions had spillover benefits for shooting investigations. We hypothesized that the intervention-driv…
Are More ACEs Always Worse? Exploring Nonlinear Associations with Youth Behavior”
Testing Routine Activity Theory: Behavioural Pathways Linking Temperature to Crime
This study examines direct observations of outdoor routine activities to investigate the pathways through which temperatures shape crime. Daily administrative records of crime, weather and outdoor activity were assembled from 2015 to 2019 in New York City. Mediation analysis (with bootstrapped standard errors) reveals that alterations in routine activities account for a statistically significant, yet modest, proportion of temperature’s relationsh…
Sex differences in temperament and career Juvenile offending among justice-involved youth
School Engagement as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Temperament and Recidivism Among Adolescents in Community-Based Juvenile Justice Services
Prior research has established the relationship between temperament and recidivism, yet the mechanisms that underlie this relationship have yet to be explored. School engagement represents one possible mechanism and has been shown to be related to both recidivism and temperament. The current study expands research on DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament theory by utilizing data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice to determine if school eng…
Protecting Against Adversity: The Role of Positive Childhood Experiences in Youth Recidivism
An abundance of research has established Adverse Childhood Experiences’ (ACEs’) contributions to deviant behavior. Recently, studies have demonstrated the importance of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). Yet, the PCE establishment as a predictive scale is needed. In a multistate, robust sample (N = 254,874) of justice-involved youth, we examined PCE scale effects and ACE-PCE combinations on recidivism using mixed effects logistic regression w…
A Statewide Analysis of the Impact of Restitution and Fees on Juvenile Recidivism in Florida Across Race & Ethnicity
Whether the imposition of monetary sanctions is related to juvenile recidivism is explored overall and across race and ethnicity. Leveraging a statewide sample, logistic regression was used to predict fees and restitution assignment based on youth/case characteristics, hierarchical linear and logistic random-effects regression examined the association between neighborhood characteristics with fees and restitution, and propensity score matching ex…
Gender Differences in the Empathy–Recidivism Relationship
A large body of criminological research often focuses on risk factors that propel individuals toward criminal activity rather than those that act as protective factors to reduce criminal involvement. In this study, we focus on a potentially important protective factor, empathy, which has long been considered an individual characteristic related to prosocial human behavior including non-offending. Specifically, we test the effects of empathy on ju…
Hostile, Quick-Tempered, and Exposed to Dangerous Environments: Exploring the Link Between Temperament and the Street Code Adherence
Although Elijah Anderson’s code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of DeLisi and Vaughn’s difficult tempe…
Community policing, social capital, and residents’ feelings of safety in Taiwan
The history of community policing has now reached a half-century mark, but evidence regarding its effectiveness in reducing fear of crime has been inconsistent. A closer examination of existing research suggests that there must be an underlying process linking community policing and community residents’ fear of crime. Thus, this study draws on Putnam’s theoretical framework to test a conceptual mechanism of social capital underlying the associati…
Dynamic risk trajectories, community context, and juvenile recidivism
Weird winter weather in the Anthropocene: How volatile temperatures shape violent crime
Big data in crime statistics: Using Google Trends to measure victimization in designated market areas across the United States
Google Trends (GT) data could potentially supplement traditional crime measurement strategies, allowing criminologists to better understand crime statistics on a macro level. This study assesses the validity of GT crime estimates. The findings indicate that GT data are reliable for estimating MVT, larceny, and rape. Additionally, we illustrate how to use GT to identify places with high rates of unreported offenses. The results of this study demon…
Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences and Juvenile Court Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Race and Ethnicity
Youth involved in the juvenile justice system have enhanced traumatic exposure including abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction compared to their non-involved counterparts. While prior research has conceptualized the role of trauma in predicting juvenile recidivism, the interrelated role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and race/ethnicity in informing juvenile court processing and outcomes is unaddressed. As such, we examine the moderat…
Did Juvenile Domestic Violence Offending Change During Covid-19
The current study castssome of the first light into the initial impacts of the largest global health crisis in a generation on family and domestic violence, the long-term repercussions of which may take decades to unpack. Statewide trends in juvenile arrests for domestic violence (DV)-related offending are examined, taking into account school closures for in-person learning in March 2020 and the subsequent mandate for an in-person learning option…
The Effect of Program Staffing Difficulties on Changes in Dynamic Risk and Reoffending among Juvenile Offenders in Residential Placement
Recently there has been growing concern regarding the staffing challenges that plague the U.S. correctional system. This study examines whether staffing challenges within residential facilities are associated with changes in dynamic risk and the likelihood of reoffending among a sample of serious juvenile offenders returning to the community from residential placement. Using administrative data on 2,022 youth who completed a court-imposed placeme…
Drug overdoses, geographic trajectories, and the influence of built environment and neighborhood characteristics
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), psychotropic medication prescription, and continued offending among youth with serious offending histories in juvenile justice residential placement
How do the consequences of pretrial detention on guilty pleas and carceral sentences vary between misdemeanor and felony cases
Violence in the Big Apple throughout the Covid-19 pandemic: A borough-specific analysis
Understanding juvenile pre-adjudicatory detention and front-end juvenile case processing: The moderating role of race
Childhood abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and juvenile recidivism: The mediating role of social bonds
Evaluating RNR-Based Targeted Treatment and Intervention Dosage in the Context of Traumatic Exposure
Best practices in juvenile justice call for the individualized matching of services to assessed dynamic risk factors, with services delivered at sufficient dosage. However, prior work has largely ignored whether this recipe for recidivism reduction is as effective for adolescents with extensive traumatic exposure as it is for those without. The current study leverages a statewide sample of 1,666 juveniles released from residential placement (84.6…
The Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Juvenile Offending Trajectories in a Juvenile Offender Sample
Investigating the Effects of Media Consumption on Attitudes Toward Police Legitimacy
Prior investigations have examined both traditional media (e.g., television news) and entertainment media (e.g., crime-related shows) on policing-related outcomes; however, less is known how contemporary forms of media, such as the Internet and social media, may affect policing-related outcomes. Using a sample of young adults, the current study examines the effect of multiple types of media consumption (traditional, entertainment, the Internet, a…
Maltreatment, Child Welfare, and Recidivism in a Sample of Deep-End Crossover Youth
A Multicity Neighborhood Analysis of Foreclosure and Crime
Objective We examine whether there is a significant effect of foreclosure on robbery and burglary across neighborhoods, and whether this varies systematically across cities. Specifically, we consider whether several city‐level attributes—overall foreclosure rates, levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and prior vacancy rates, the degree of recent new housing construction, housing affordability, and the quantity and quality of policing—moderate the…
Neighborhood disorder and generalized trust: A multilevel mediation examination of social mechanisms
The contemporary foreclosure crisis and US crime rates
The Effects of Neighborhood Context on Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Among Adolescents Involved in the Juvenile Justice System: Latent Classes and Contextual Effects
Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Psychiatric Diagnoses and Treatment in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders
Violent Attitudes and Antisocial Behavior: Examining the Code of the Street's Generalizability among a College Sample
Drawing on Elijah Anderson’s (1999) Code of the Street thesis, this study assesses the generalizability of street code attitudes. Using a sample of college students from a large Midwest university, the current study contributes to the literature by examining: (1) the generalizability of street code attitudes; (2) the correlates of street code attitudes, including various forms of strain; and (3) the predictive power of street code attitudes on cr…
The Breadth and Causes of Contemporary Cross-National Homicide Trends
Analysis of international homicide trends from the late 1980s through the late 2000s for a relatively large sample of nations showed that trends did not vary substantially by victim sex or age. There was, however, significant regional variation in overall trends during the 1990s, suggesting that there was not a global drop in lethal violence during this period, or at least not something that occurred everywhere simultaneously. During the 2000s th…
The search for the holy grail: Criminogenic needs matching, intervention dosage, and subsequent recidivism among serious juvenile offenders in residential placement
The protective impact of immigrant concentration on juvenile recidivism: A statewide analysis of youth offenders
Dynamic risk factors and timing of recidivism for youth in residential placement
The Mobility of Youth in the Justice System: Implications for Recidivism
Drug overdoses, geographic trajectories, and the influence of built environment and neighborhood characteristics
The Mediating Role of Street Code Attitudes on the Self-Control and Crime Relationship
Research has demonstrated strong but independent attention to the role of self-control and street code attitudes in predicting criminal and violent behavior. Yet, there are good theoretical notions to believe that street code attitudes may be a salient mechanism in the self-control–offending relationship. Specifically, the present study investigates: (1) the extent to which self-control predicts adopting street code attitudes and (2) whether stre…
Violence in the Big Apple throughout the Covid-19 pandemic: A borough-specific analysis
Weird winter weather in the Anthropocene: How volatile temperatures shape violent crime
Big data in crime statistics: Using Google Trends to measure victimization in designated market areas across the United States
Google Trends (GT) data could potentially supplement traditional crime measurement strategies, allowing criminologists to better understand crime statistics on a macro level. This study assesses the validity of GT crime estimates. The findings indicate that GT data are reliable for estimating MVT, larceny, and rape. Additionally, we illustrate how to use GT to identify places with high rates of unreported offenses. The results of this study demon…
Violent juveniles' adverse childhood experiences: Differentiating victim groups
Does Treatment Quality Matter: Multilevel Examination of the Effects of Intervention Quality on Recidivism of Adolescents Completing Long‐Term Juvenile Justice Residential Placement
Research Summary The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has implemented a process to evaluate the treatment quality of interventions provided statewide in all long‐term residential programs. In the current study, we examine the predictive validity of this treatment quality component in the prediction of recidivism of youth ( N = 2,397) who completed juvenile justice residential programs from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. We use hierarchical …
Self-efficacy, aspirations, and residential placement outcomes: Why belief in a prosocial self matters
You Learn What You Live: Prevalence of Childhood Adversity in the Lives of Juveniles Arrested for Sexual Offenses
ocial workers often find themselves working with children or adolescents who have been victims of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including youths who have ended up in the juvenile justice system. Childhood trauma has been linked to negative health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes across the lifespan. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence rates of child maltreatment and household dysfunction in the lives of juveniles wh…
Dynamic risk trajectories, community context, and juvenile recidivism
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), psychotropic medication prescription, and continued offending among youth with serious offending histories in juvenile justice residential placement
A Multicity Neighborhood Analysis of Foreclosure and Crime
Objective We examine whether there is a significant effect of foreclosure on robbery and burglary across neighborhoods, and whether this varies systematically across cities. Specifically, we consider whether several city‐level attributes—overall foreclosure rates, levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and prior vacancy rates, the degree of recent new housing construction, housing affordability, and the quantity and quality of policing—moderate the…
The contemporary foreclosure crisis and US crime rates
The Breadth and Causes of Contemporary Cross-National Homicide Trends
Analysis of international homicide trends from the late 1980s through the late 2000s for a relatively large sample of nations showed that trends did not vary substantially by victim sex or age. There was, however, significant regional variation in overall trends during the 1990s, suggesting that there was not a global drop in lethal violence during this period, or at least not something that occurred everywhere simultaneously. During the 2000s th…
The protective impact of immigrant concentration on juvenile recidivism: A statewide analysis of youth offenders
The Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Juvenile Offending Trajectories in a Juvenile Offender Sample
Maltreatment, Child Welfare, and Recidivism in a Sample of Deep-End Crossover Youth
Neighborhood disorder and generalized trust: A multilevel mediation examination of social mechanisms
Adverse Childhood Experiences, Negative Emotionality, and Pathways to Juvenile Recidivism
Prior work has illustrated youth exposed to adverse parenting practices are more likely to offend and juvenile offenders with maltreatment histories more likely to re-offend. In addition, aggressive tendencies and a hostile interpretation of the actions of others and one’s environment increase antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, the pathways by which those effects occur are not well understood. Using a sample of more than 25,000 juvenile offender…
Investigating the relationship between social media consumption and fear of crime: A partial analysis of mostly young adults
Do Social Bonds Buffer the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Reoffending?
Research from multiple disciplines has reported that exposure to childhood traumatic events, often referred to as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), increases an individual’s chances of experiencing a wide variety of negative consequences such as chronic disease, unemployment, and involvement in serious, violent, and chronic offending. The current study assesses how protective factors from social bonds may moderate the relationship between ACE…
The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Recidivism in a Sample of Juvenile Offenders in Community-Based Treatment
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been identified as a key risk factor for a range of negative life outcomes, including delinquency. Much less is known about how exposure to negative experiences relates to continued offending among juvenile offenders. In this study, we examine the effect of ACEs on recidivism in a large sample of previously referred youth from the State of Florida who were followed for 1 year after participation in commun…
Prospective Prediction of Juvenile Homicide/Attempted Homicide among Early-Onset Juvenile Offenders
While homicide perpetrated by juveniles is a relatively rare occurrence, between 2010 and 2014, approximately 7%-8% of all murders involved a juvenile offender. Unfortunately, few studies have prospectively examined the predictors of homicide offending, with none examining first-time murder among a sample of adjudicated male and female youth. The current study employed data on 5908 juvenile offenders (70% male, 45% Black) first arrested at the ag…
The Mobility of Youth in the Justice System: Implications for Recidivism
Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in Psychiatric Diagnoses and Treatment in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders
Self-efficacy, aspirations, and residential placement outcomes: Why belief in a prosocial self matters
You Learn What You Live: Prevalence of Childhood Adversity in the Lives of Juveniles Arrested for Sexual Offenses
ocial workers often find themselves working with children or adolescents who have been victims of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including youths who have ended up in the juvenile justice system. Childhood trauma has been linked to negative health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes across the lifespan. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence rates of child maltreatment and household dysfunction in the lives of juveniles wh…
Violent Attitudes and Antisocial Behavior: Examining the Code of the Street's Generalizability among a College Sample
Drawing on Elijah Anderson’s (1999) Code of the Street thesis, this study assesses the generalizability of street code attitudes. Using a sample of college students from a large Midwest university, the current study contributes to the literature by examining: (1) the generalizability of street code attitudes; (2) the correlates of street code attitudes, including various forms of strain; and (3) the predictive power of street code attitudes on cr…
Does Treatment Quality Matter: Multilevel Examination of the Effects of Intervention Quality on Recidivism of Adolescents Completing Long‐Term Juvenile Justice Residential Placement
Research Summary The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has implemented a process to evaluate the treatment quality of interventions provided statewide in all long‐term residential programs. In the current study, we examine the predictive validity of this treatment quality component in the prediction of recidivism of youth ( N = 2,397) who completed juvenile justice residential programs from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. We use hierarchical …
The Effects of Neighborhood Context on Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Among Adolescents Involved in the Juvenile Justice System: Latent Classes and Contextual Effects
The search for the holy grail: Criminogenic needs matching, intervention dosage, and subsequent recidivism among serious juvenile offenders in residential placement
The Mediating Role of Street Code Attitudes on the Self-Control and Crime Relationship
Research has demonstrated strong but independent attention to the role of self-control and street code attitudes in predicting criminal and violent behavior. Yet, there are good theoretical notions to believe that street code attitudes may be a salient mechanism in the self-control–offending relationship. Specifically, the present study investigates: (1) the extent to which self-control predicts adopting street code attitudes and (2) whether stre…
Investigating the Effects of Media Consumption on Attitudes Toward Police Legitimacy
Prior investigations have examined both traditional media (e.g., television news) and entertainment media (e.g., crime-related shows) on policing-related outcomes; however, less is known how contemporary forms of media, such as the Internet and social media, may affect policing-related outcomes. Using a sample of young adults, the current study examines the effect of multiple types of media consumption (traditional, entertainment, the Internet, a…
Broken Windows/Zero‐Tolerance Policing
Broken windows or zero‐tolerance policing is an aggressive policing strategy focused on enforcing minor crimes and public order offenses. Most commonly associated with the New York Police Department (NYPD), zero‐tolerance policing is often credited for the dramatic drop in serious crime that occurred in New York City during the 1990s. This entry begins by reviewing the theoretical propositions underlying this policing approach to crime and disord…
The role of parental problems in functional family therapy outcomes
Dynamic risk factors and timing of recidivism for youth in residential placement
Psychology (49 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (34 works) · Medicine (34 works) · Poison control (27 works) · Criminology (25 works) · Political science (25 works) · Recidivism (25 works) · Clinical Psychology (24 works) · Juvenile delinquency (24 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (23 works)