When Does Race Matter in Juvenile Court Outcomes? A Test of the “Type of Offense” Hypothesis

Guevara, Lori; Shekarkhar, Zahra; Fuller, Kenethia McIntosh

doi:10.1111/jfcj.12118

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is commonplace, yet extremely stigmatizing to operate under the assumption that “if one chooses behaviors that are illegal, they are responsible for the sanctions that follow” (Sexton, 2016, p. 62). It has been stated that the juvenile justice system must make a better attempt to maintain a pledge to rehabilitate every juvenile who encounters the system (Guevara et al, 2018). However, not every youth that enters the system is in need of this rehabilitation or have even entered due to anything other than a broken system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System

Dragomir¹,

Tadros²

2020

Juvenile Family Court J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The racial disparity in the American juvenile justice system impacts the lives of many youth of color. Youth of color constitute 34% of the U.S. population, however, they make up 62% of the youth charged in the juvenile justice system. The cycle of racial inequality and imprisonment are factors influenced by residential segregation and policing practices. Juvenile justice involvement leads to poorer physical and mental health in youth, stymied social outcomes, poorer familial relationships, decreased graduation and employment rates, increased rates in violence, and long‐term negative future outcomes. The article advocates for mental health treatment and family services to be incorporated within incarcerated settings. Clinical strategies and future direction are discussed to begin to combat these various adverse impacts.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System

Dragomir¹,

Tadros²

2020

Juvenile Family Court J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Black and Latinx adolescents are overrepresented among youth in preadjudication detention (Chappell, 2019; Gann, 2019; Guevara et al, 2006; Lowery & Smith, 2020). Preadjudication detention is significantly associated with decreased likelihood of more favorable outcomes in later court processing, such as probation versus secure confinement (Cochran & Mears, 2015; Guevara et al, 2018). Secure confinement can be considered the most severe outcome in the juvenile justice system, given its lifelong consequences noted above.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Disproportionate Minority Contact: An Expanded Examination of how Threat of Violent and Sexual Offending Impacts Court Outcomes

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Racial disparities in the U.S. juvenile justice system appear to be attenuated for people with sexual and violent versus drug and property offenses. Existing theories such as the racial threat hypothesis partially explain these racial disparities, but the definition of “threat” could limit our ability to explain juvenile justice outcomes across offense categories. Importantly, research often overlooks the different and unique threats associated with violent and sexual crimes. The present study examined impacts of racial threat and an expanded definition of “threat” associated with violent and sexual crime on (a) preadjudication detention and (b) dispositions of postadjudication confinement. Statewide archival court data were obtained regarding 212,274 male and female adolescents. In the full models, less severe violent (assault vs. homicide) and sexual offenses (indecent exposure and child pornography vs. sexual abuse) were associated with lower use of detention and secure confinement. This impact of specific violent and sexual offenses on court outcomes were observed in models run with Black adolescents and models separated by violent offenses and sexual offenses. Higher rates of county-level homicide prosecutions and White-to-Black unemployment were significantly and positively associated with detention and confinement, respectively. Racial threat and other theories aiming to explain racial disparities should be reexamined and modified to include markers of violent and sexual offense stigma and threat. Further, models testing racial disparities should include an expanded definition of “threat” in selecting indicators. Our suggested modified theory could better elucidate racial disparities in the juvenile justice system and presents important practice implications.

show abstract

“…Based on earlier research, we controlled for both juvenile and offense-related characteristics. These include gender (Bishop & Frazier, 1992; Guevara et al, 2008), age (Leiber et al, 2016), race/ethnicity (Cochran & Mears, 2015; Peck & Jennings, 2016), offense severity (Rodriguez, 2007), offense type (Guevara et al, 2018), police referral, number of current charges (Leiber, 2016), number of prior referrals (Rodriguez, 2010), school status (Leiber & Mack, 2003), family status (DeJong & Jackson, 1998), urbanicity (Burruss & Kempf-Leonard, 2002), and geographic region (Feld, 1991).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Type of Legal Representation and Its Influence on Disaggregated Dispositions in Juvenile Court

Brady

Peck

2021

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While prior studies of juvenile court outcomes have examined the impact of legal representation on out-of-home placement versus community sanctions, previous research has not fully explored the variation within sanctions that youth receive. The current study examines the influence of type of legal representation (public defender or private attorney) when predicting juvenile adjudications and dispositions. Using a sample of delinquent referrals from a Northeast state between 2009 and 2014, results showed that youth do receive different outcomes (e.g., probation, drug and alcohol treatment, accountability-oriented dispositions, etc.) based on the type of legal representation. The findings have important implications for juvenile court processing related to how courtroom actors impact case outcomes.

show abstract

When Does Race Matter in Juvenile Court Outcomes? A Test of the “Type of Offense” Hypothesis

Cited by 8 publications

References 65 publications

Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System

Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System

Disproportionate Minority Contact: An Expanded Examination of how Threat of Violent and Sexual Offending Impacts Court Outcomes

Examining the Type of Legal Representation and Its Influence on Disaggregated Dispositions in Juvenile Court

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About