NCJ Number
149110
Date Published
1993
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This update of Florida's efforts in the Minority Over- Representation Initiative for its juvenile justice system presents materials on progress in four areas of the initiative: preliminary data analysis and assessment, qualitative research (prearrest contacts), quantitative research (database merges and assessment), and public awareness.
Abstract
In the section on preliminary data analysis and assessment, a chart shows the percentages of whites and nonwhites who receive various dispositions at the decisionmaking stages of juvenile justice processing. The percentages show that although a higher percentage of white juveniles are arrested, greater percentages of nonwhites are placed in detention, transferred to adult court, and committed to an institution. This section also contains "An Intake/Case Manager Survey," which is designed to obtain input from intake/case managers that will assist in the development of a rating scale for Client Information System referral and disposition categories. The second section of this report, which presents qualitative research, contains a study that associates information collected on referrals at prearrest and arrest stages with whether the youth was released or formally processed into the juvenile justice system. One significant finding was that African-American youths, when the complainant was white, were more likely to be formally referred, detained, and adjudicated than were white youths when the complainant was African-American. The report's section on quantitative research reports on progress in database merges and assessment. Information is provided on the use of the Department of Education data set, the Client Information System data set, and the Comprehensive Data Set. The concluding section, which addresses public-awareness activities in the initiative presents the agenda and activity descriptions for a conference on "Minority Over-Representation in Florida's Juvenile Justice System," held in Tallahassee, May 6-8, 1993.