Assessing the Impact of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI): Predictors of Secure Detention and Length of Stay Before and After JDAI

In the context of the criminal justice system, the minority threat hypothesis posits that a growing minority population will exacerbate racial and ethnic disparities as those in power seek to establish social control over the threatening population. Decades of research have produced mixed findings, possibly due to the varied approaches to testing this hypothesis as well as the different populations to whom it is applied. To fully explore the racial and ethnic threat hypotheses for an underexamined population-juveniles transferred to criminal court-and an underexamined outcome-pretrial detention-the present article employs a series of multilevel models to test several versions of the hypothesis. Specifically, the article distinguishes between two measures of minority threat-static and dynamic-and two types of threat effects-diffuse and targeted. Findings indicate limited support for the minority threat hypothesis in all forms. Several interpretations are offered, ranging from consideration of the need for more informed measures of threat to a possible need to modify or abandon the minority threat hypothesis in the context of juvenile and criminal justice processing.

Section: Observedsupporting

confidence: 68%

Exploring the Minority Threat Hypothesis for Juveniles in Criminal Court

Zane

2017

“…Greater emphasis may be placed on legal factors, such as number of charges or charge type, and prior contacts with the system as practitioners articulate reasons to justify treatment of particular youths. Maggard (2015) provides support for this hypothesis by estimating disparities before and after the imposition of Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative programs. Maggard shows revised detention procedures created an increased reliance on charge severity and prior intake referrals.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Dmc Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Do Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Mandate Reforms Change Decision-Making? Decomposing Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System

Donnelly

2018

To reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in their juvenile justice systems, policy makers must alter decision-making processes through policy interventions. Effective DMC reforms should ideally diminish the influence of race on processing outcomes and give more weight to objective differences in cases such as charge severity or a youth's prior adjudications. This study evaluates the impacts of DMC interventions on secure detention and placement decisions. It introduces the Gelbach decomposition approach to estimate unexplained racial differences in processing outcomes. The method also illuminates the relative importance of case factors in reducing or aggravating explainable group differences over time. Findings suggest DMC reforms can moderate the effect of race on processing outcomes. When detailed, decomposition estimates show a greater emphasis on prior contact for detention and legal factors and prior history for placement following reform. DMC interventions may then help diminish unwarranted processing distinctions, and decomposition methods can inform these policy debates.

“…1 In 2013, JDAI had achieved nearly a 44% reduction in the average daily population in detention (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2014b). It also saw a 40% reduction in the number of youth of color in detention among participating sites by that year (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2014a), though studies have found mixed results on JDAI’s impact on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in detention (Carlton et al, 2017; Leiber & Fix, 2019; Maggard, 2013). In 2012 and 2014, the Foundation selected 13 sites 2 participating in JDAI to expand their detention reform efforts to out-of-home placements in residential facilities referred to as the “deep end” of the system.…”

Section: The Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming Practice Through Culture Change: Probation Staff Perspectives on Juvenile Justice Reform

Esthappan

Lacoe

Zweig

et al. 2020

Probation plays a central role in the juvenile justice system, and probation officers are often involved in numerous decisions made in juvenile courts. This study examines the views of probation staff from 23 jurisdictions, some of which participated in an Annie E. Casey Foundation–funded juvenile justice reform effort intended to safely and significantly reduce the use of out-of-home placements, especially for youth of color. We survey juvenile probation staff members at two waves and describe changes in reported practices and principles relating to individualized case planning, youth engagement, family and community engagement, and racial and ethnic equity and inclusion as well as beliefs about the purposes of out-of-home placement. Reform sites reported slightly more frequent use of practices and principles addressing community engagement and racial and ethnic equity and inclusion in the second wave than in the first wave.