NCJ Number
86906
Date Published
1982
Length
286 pages
Annotation
This examination of a particular metropolitan juvenile court focuses on whether the court's actions are beneficial to individual juveniles and the larger society, largely through an analysis of the factors in court decisionmaking.
Abstract
The study relied upon three major sources of information: daily observation of courthouse activities, including 250 hearings; indepth interviews with a random sample of decisionmakers; and statistical analysis of all cases of juveniles referred to the court within the year (about 10,500 referrals for delinquent behavior). Decisionmaking was examined in the areas of referral, detention, screening, and informal versus formal processing. Formal decisionmaking was examined at the occasions of the initial hearing, contested hearings and pretrial, conferences, courtroom sessions, and disposition. Various factors influencing decisionmaking were identified and discussed, including (1) external considerations and pressures, such as police involvement in court action, school decisions, parental referrals, and treatment facilities and outside agencies, (2) legal variables, such as the offense, past referrals, degree of involvement, legal representation, and the presiding officer; (3) the juvenile's social characteristics and sex; (4) the home environment; and (5) juvenile attitude and demeanor. The evidence indicates that rather than viewing each child as an individual, the juvenile court often operates according to stereotypes, and even when an individual decisionmaker transcends the stereotypes, decisions still are more reflective of the characteristics of the decisionmaker than the characteristics of the juvenile. The discretionary decisionmaking that is intended to produce individualized justice thus yields inconsistency and arbitrariness that approaches capriciousness. Further, decisionmaking virtually ignores the failings of the social institutions to which a troubled juvenile is reacting as the juvenile's problems are perceived as being self-generated. About 140 bibliographic listings are provided along with tabular data.