Juvenile justice decision making in a rural hispanic community

Differentiating among racial/ethnic groups and its implications for understanding juvenile justice decision making

“…Within this context, even after legal and extralegal considerations were taken into account, case proceedings and outcomes differed among minority youth (e.g., Bell & Lang, 1985;Bond-Maupin & Maupin, 1998;DeJong & Jackson, 1998;Feld, 1991;Fisher & Doyle-Martin, 1981). Theory development and research, however, is lacking in this area (Daly & Tonry, 1997).…”

Latinos/as in the criminal and juvenile justice systems

“…Similarly, Holmes and Daudistel (1984, p. 274) found that ''... those of Mexican origin tried before juries were considerably more likely to receive a severe sentence than otherwise similar Anglo defendants.'' For young Latinos/as, the situation is not much different, as indicated by various juvenile offender studies (Fisher and Doyle-Martin 1981;Pope and Feyerherm 1981;Bell and Lang 1985;Bond-Maupin and Maupin 1998). A California study revealed that with the exception of status offenses, Mexican juveniles received the most severe dispositions in all offense categories (Pope and Feyerhem 1981; see also Arnold 1971).…”

“…Testing for ethnic effects in capital punishment, five studies (Carter and Smith 1969;Koeninger 1969;Marquart et al 1994;Baldus et al 1998;Aguirre et al 1999; see also Baldus and Cole 1980;Urbina 2003a) report differential treatment in favor of Caucasians. In particular, a recent study documents that while the relative difference for African American and Caucasian defendants receiving a death sentence are small, the difference for Latinos is substantial: ''our comparison of the pre-and post-Payne periods has shown that cases involving Latino defendants are more likely to result in a death sentence than cases involving white or black defendants'' (Aguirre 1999, p. 307) The eight remaining studies (Arnold 1971;Fisher and Doyle-Martin 1981;Pope and Feyerherm 1981;Dannefer and Schutt 1982;Wordes et al 1994;Austin 1995;Wordes and Bynum 1995;Bond-Maupin and Maupin 1998) tested for ethnic effects among juvenile offenders. Again, as with adult offenders, the pattern of disparities against Latino/a youth appears to be consistent.…”

Knowledge and perceptions of juvenile justice officials about selection bias

“…There were a few studies, however, which focused on or included Hispanic and Native American juveniles. These studies found that similar to African American juveniles, Hispanic and Native American juveniles experienced overrepresentation at various stages in the system compared to White juveniles (Bell & Lang, 1985;Bond-Maupin & Maupin, 1998;Fisher & Doyle-Martin, 1981;Leiber, 1994). African American and Hispanic juveniles were about equally as likely to be diverted from the juvenile system (Bell & Lang, 1985) and African American, Hispanic, and Native American juveniles were more likely than Whites to be referred to juvenile court (Fisher & Doyle-Martin, 1981).…”

“…African American and Hispanic juveniles were about equally as likely to be diverted from the juvenile system (Bell & Lang, 1985) and African American, Hispanic, and Native American juveniles were more likely than Whites to be referred to juvenile court (Fisher & Doyle-Martin, 1981). One study focused specifically at Hispanic juveniles within a rural community and reported that Hispanic juveniles were subjected to more policing and experienced a higher likelihood of being referred to juvenile court compared to White youth (Bond-Maupin & Maupin, 1998).…”