Meta-analysis of post-sentence recidivism in juvenile offenders in the Spanish juvenile justice system

The success of juvenile justice lies in the appropriate reintegration of juvenile offenders, whereas recidivism denotes the system's ineffectiveness. In Spain, previous studies show that more than a quarter of this population commits a new criminal offense after passing through the penal system. This meta-analysis seeks to ascertain an estimate of the rate of post-sentence recidivism under the legal framework of the Ley Orgánica de Responsabilidad Penal del Menor (LORPM), as well as the modulating variables that influence recidivism. The literature search yielded 17 studies, which provided 48 individual effect size indices, including data from 24,513 juvenile offenders. Studies published between 2005 and 2021 were included. Recidivism rates of the studies included in the meta-analysis ranged from 8% to 66.9%, with a mean post-sentence recidivism rate of 32.58%. Based on the results, the type of sanction imposed, age, being male, a history in the juvenile justice system, and violence in the original offense serve as moderating variables in recidivism.