NCJ Number
82563
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1982) Pages: 66-83
Date Published
1982
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper describes six variables -- two legal variables (number of past offenses, committing offense), two extralegal variables (age, race), and two Diagnostic and Evaluation (D&E) Center variables (behavior rating, IQ) -- thought to affect the postadjudication disposition of juveniles, in particular, their placement in either a group home or an institutional setting.
Abstract
The data used in this study were gathered from completed case histories on 133 randomly sampled male juveniles processed over a 6 month period by a department of youth services (DYS) facility in a southern State. Regression analysis demonstrates that D&E behavior rating, number of past offenses, age, and committing offense were significant determinants of postadjudication disposition. The variables race and IQ, while having a significant simple correlation with type of disposition, are found to be nonsignificant when the other independent factors are controlled. It is also shown through an interaction analysis that the multiplicative term of number of past offenses X committing offense was an important factor in the juvenile's disposition. It appears that the D&E Center avoided allowing race, an extralegal factor, to influence dispositions following adjudication. The primary determinants are similar to those found in the literature concerning other stages of disposition. If race as an extralegal variable does influence the treatment of an adolescent in the juvenile justice system, it does so in the earlier stages of the process. (Author abstract)