NCJ Number
84392
Date Published
1976
Length
156 pages
Annotation
The study compared the importance of certain variables in the decisions of juvenile court judges in Solano County, Calif., to allocate delinquent students to either short-term (Juvenile Hall School) or long-term (California Youth Authority) educational programs.
Abstract
Educational, socioeconomic, familial, and judicial administrative variables were compared. A 20-percent stratified random sample was drawn from a universe of 906 delinquent students. A total of 113 students had been allocated to short-term programs (group one) and 78 to long-term programs (group two). Analysis of variance was used to test hypotheses concerned with the comparative importance of the three variables. It was concluded that educational variables play no part in allocating delinquents to either type of program. However, significant differences existed between groups one and two in the socioeconomic and familial variables of parental education and family income. Allocations favored long-term placements when parental education and income were low; short-term placements, when parental education and income were high. Judicial administrative variables which proved significant included number of official contacts, number of cases on docket, completeness of probation officer's report, and probation officer's recommendations to the court. Thus, judicial administrative variables, centering on the probation officer's role and pressures of a heavy docket, when combined with variables associated with the delinquent family's socioeconomic status, completely outweigh the student's educational characteristics in influencing the allocation decision. Recommendations for improving the allocation decisionmaking process and for future research are offered. Tables and references are included. (Author abstract modified)