# Severe LD in Juvenile Delinquents:  Presentation, Course, and Remediation

> **NIH NIH P20** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $556,808

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Learning disabilities (LD) are among the most common types of disabilities in juvenile offenders that have been
linked to delinquency. Nationwide, children and youth with special education needs are overrepresented in the
US justice systems. Reports estimate delinquent juveniles with a disability to comprise about 30% to 60% of
the entire delinquent population. A national survey in the US states an average prevalence rate of 33.4% of
incarcerated juveniles with disabilities in correctional facilities. Moreover, concerns have long been raised on
the recidivism rates of youth with disabilities and special education backgrounds. In general, regarding
educational performance, academic deficits such as a lack of basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics
have been associated with recidivism. However, these studies largely neglect the dynamic nature of delinquent
and criminal behavior that has been documented within the field of developmental criminology with a focus on
the onset, continuity, and extinction of deviant behavior. In light of this research, the identification and
remediation of LD as a risk factor for repeat offending has been a persistent challenge given the accumulation
of and overlap with other risk factors such as poverty, familial patterns of criminality, influence of delinquent
peers, and the differential impact of risk factors across an individual’s developmental trajectory. Altogether,
there is a challenge around the implementation of sophisticated methodology to model the complex
longitudinal and reciprocal links between juvenile delinquency and educational problems such as learning
disabilities, and how they relate to other risk factors over time. This challenge is intensified by the required
large samples to detect robust and interpretable patterns and predictive relationships for groups of youth with
severe LDs that, by definition, are small in size and censored with regard to various educational outcomes
(e.g., academic performance). This Hub is conceived to contribute to the field’s understanding of the
connection between LD and delinquent behavior. Through its organizational and administrative activities
(ADMINISTRATION CORE), the Hub will serve as a source of expertise to elucidate the etiology of the
empirical overlap between severe LD and juvenile delinquency. Through its research activities (RESEARCH
PROJECT), the Hub will generate unique findings capitalizing on the availability of the relevant big data, the
clinical strengths of its members and their capacity to develop and administer educational therapy to juvenile
offenders, and its embeddedness within communities empowering the creation and processing of multi-level
longitudinal datasets, merging sociological (i.e., criminological), behavioral, neurophysiological, and
genetic/genomic data.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982116
- **Project number:** 5P20HD091005-04
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** ELENA L GRIGORENKO
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $556,808
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-01-12 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982116

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982116, Severe LD in Juvenile Delinquents:  Presentation, Course, and Remediation (5P20HD091005-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982116. Licensed CC0.

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