Effects of Individual and Contextual Characteristics on Preadjudication Detention of Juvenile Delinquents

Racial Disproportionality in Juvenile Justice: The Interaction of Race and Geography in Pretrial Detention for Violent and Serious Offenses

“…Youth's residence is represented by a dichotomous variable (city) that indicates whether a youth resides in the city or suburbs, with 1 = city and 0 = suburbs. As discussed previously, most examinations of geographical variation in juvenile court processing have used county as the unit of analysis (e.g., Armstrong and Rodriguez 2005;Feld 1991;Sampson and Laub 1993). There are, however, reasons to believe that geographical differences exist within counties with regard to the processing of youth (Rodriguez 2007).…”

“…They interpret this as related to the symbolic threat that middle-class whites perceive blacks, particularly those living in conditions of poverty and inequality, to represent. Similarly, Armstrong and Rodriguez (2005) found that counties with higher proportions of people of color were more likely to utilize pretrial detention for youth.…”

“…Although a number of studies have found that youth of color, particularly black youth, are more likely to be detained than similarly situated white youth (Armstrong and Rodriguez 2005;Bishop and Frazier 1996;Bortner and Reed 1985;Harms 2002;McGuire 2002;Secret and Johnson 1997;Wordes et al 1994;Wu 1997;Wu et al 1997; but see Rodriguez 2007), there is very little understanding of the means by which disproportionality occurs. Three possible avenues have begun to be examined-the first is related to youths' attitude and character as assessed by justice system personnel, the second is related to judgments about adequate parental supervision and/or school and work involvement, and the third is related to what some have called ''justice by geography.…”

A multilevel analysis of juvenile court processes: The importance of community characteristics

“…This measure was different from the majority of previous studies which include such a measure in their analyses (Armstrong & Rodriguez, 2005;Feld, 1991;Frazier & Lee, 1992;Sampson & Laub, 1993;Secret & Johnson, 1997;Wu, Cernkovich, & Dunn, 1997). In this study, this measure was captured at the community-level rather than as an overall county or city measure.…”

“…influenced by urbanism, racial inequality, economic factors, and crime rates (Armstrong & Rodriguez, 2005;Bridges, et al, 1993;Feld, 1991;Frazier & Lee, 1992;Sampson & Laub, 1993;Secret & Johnson, 1997;Wu, Cernkovich, & Dunn, 1997). In his examination of detention practices in urban, suburban, and rural counties in Minnesota, Feld (1991) found that juvenile delinquents referred for person offenses and longer criminal histories were likely to be detained in all three types of counties.…”