Prediction and Explanation of Young Offenders’ Intentions to Re-offend From Behavioral, Normative, and Control Beliefs
Abstract
A detailed assessment of the constructs postulated by the Theory of Planned Behavior is offered as a comprehensive framework for understanding young offenders’ behavioral intentions to re-offend in the future. The paper reports the assessed salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs with respect to future offending behavior. From the largest institution for young offenders in Scotland 152 male inmates were randomly selected and filled in a questionnaire which measured direct and belief-based attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to re-offend in the future. Intentions to re-offend in the future by young offenders were predicted by control beliefs about certain internal and external impediments that the young offenders believed they had to overcome and behavioral beliefs, underlining attitudes toward future offending.
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