Official Record Information
As noted above, the Pathways study relies primarily on self-report regarding the receipt of social services and involvement in the criminal justice system. While valuable and generally reliable, these information sources also have limitations. For example, adolescents can recall with accuracy when they were in different types of institutional facilities and when they were involved with particular community-based providers (see Mulvey, Schubert & Chung, 2007). These adolescents are not, however, solid reporters of the more nuanced aspects of the services that they received (e.g., mobile therapy, family treatment, evaluation sessions) or the agency or individual who provided the service (e.g., psychologist, caseworker, mental health counselor). As a result of these limitations, we have sought to obtain official record information from a variety of sources.
- Juvenile and adult court records from both jurisdictions were routinely obtained to document arrests, court appearance and sentences subsequent to study enrollment.
- FBI records for all study participants were obtained on an annual basis to document arrests that occur outside of the jurisdictions of Maricopa and Philadelphia Counties.
- Court service records were obtained to supplement and validate self-report information. These records are a particularly valuable source of information about the specifics of service provision ordered by or known to the court.
- Medicaid claims data were obtained to supplement and validated self-report information particularly services received from outside the direct purview of the courts (such as therapy in the mental health system).
- Child protective services records indicating any prior contact that enrolled subjects had with the child welfare system.