Sample and Methods

Abstract

This research study began in 1961, when Dr. Carl Jesness decided to retain the data he had been collecting on young wards being treated at the Fricot Ranch, a camp maintained by the California Youth Authority (Jesness, 1965). He reasoned that these data might be useful in future years for long-term follow-up of these young delinquents. For similar reasons, he also retained the data collected during the Preston Typology Development Project (Jesness, 1969, 1971a) and The Youth Center Research Project (Jesness, 1971b, 1975; Jesness, DeRisi, McCormick, and Wedge, 1972). In all, over 2800 wards were involved in these three research projects. In 1978, the decision was made to study the subsequent criminal histories of these wards. The purpose was twofold: to determine the long-term expectations for California Youth Authority wards and to assess the extent to which the information collected during the three research projects could aid in identifying those with the most active and/or dangerous adult criminal behavior patterns.