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ISLAND COUNTY (WA) - JUVENILE COURT RESEARCH

NCJ Number
42354
Author(s)
J NIVEN
Date Published
1977
Length
16 pages
Annotation
DETENTION FACILITIES, SCHOOL DROP-OUT IMPACT, SPECIAL SUPERVISION AND PROBATION SUBSIDY, TIME IN THE SYSTEM, AND PLACEMENT ALTERNATIVES ARE ANALYZED.
Abstract
A COLLECTION OF 300 INDIVIDUAL CASES DRAWN OVER A TWELVE MONTH PERIOD SERVED AS A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE. STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 1976 AND MOVING BACKWARDS THROUGH OCTOBER 1975, THE FIRST 25 CASES FOR ODD-NUMBERED MONTHS AND THE LAST 25 FOR EVEN NUMBERED MONTHS WERE SELECTED; DUPLICATIVE CASES WERE AVOIDED. DESCRIPTIVE DATA CONCERNING THE PROCESSING OF THE JUVENILE FROM THE TIME OF REFFERAL THROUGH RELEASE WAS EXTRACTED AND STATISTICALLY ANALYZED. COMPARISONS, WHERE APPLICABLE, WERE DRAWN BETWEEN DATA COLLECTED ON JUVENILES REFERRED IN 1975 AND CURRENT DATA. DETENTION FACILITIES WERE CONSIDERED INADEQUATE FOR THE NUMBER OF JUVENILES DETAINED. THE PERCENTAGE OF DROP-OUT OFFENDERS IN 1976 WAS SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN IN 1975. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT SPECIAL SUPERVISION AND PROBATION SUBSIDY BE EMPLOYED WITH LESS DISCRETIONARY SELECTION WITH AN EMPHASIS ON HIGH RISK TARGET POPULATIONS. COMPARED TO THE 1975 SAMPLE, JUVENILES ARE SPENDING ROUGHLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME IN THE SYSTEM. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THE LACK OF DETENTION FACILITIES AND LIMITED INTERIM SHELTER CARE PREVENTS ADEQUATE PLACEMENT ALTERNATIVES....RCB