Each year over half a million children are victims of childhood maltreatment. While a plethora of interdisciplinary research has evaluated the detrimental outcomes of these experiences, few studies have analyzed the effects contextual components of child abuse and neglect can have on the life-course of maltreated youth. Juvenile delinquency has been identified as a prominent outcome of maltreatment, however, a lesser portion of the empirical literature has focused on outcomes among more serious justice-involved juveniles. This study analyzed the effects of childhood maltreatment severity on the recidivism outcomes of 853 blended-sentenced juveniles in a large southern state. Previous studies demonstrated worsened outcomes associated with more severe maltreatment, thus higher recidivism rates were expected for more severely maltreated juveniles. The results indicated only sexual abuse severity impacted recidivism rates, and the direction of the relationship was negative. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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