Production of Bias in Deviant Status Attainment Processes

• NCJ Number: 79648
• Author(s): G D Hill
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 165 pages
• Grant Number(s): 75-NI-99-0013; 76-JN-99-0004; 77-JN-99-0005; 2-09-1138-04; A-70-52R; 2-09-25-0410-02
• Sponsoring Agency: Illinois Law Enforcement Cmssn (see Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority); US Dept of Justice
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. University of Massachusetts - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This paper argues that current models of bias in deviance processing are methodologically and theoretically naive. It proposes an alternative model which is intimately tied to the notion of process.

Abstract

This model is discussed in the context of data from a large-scale research project on the extent and distribution of both delinquent involvement and contact with the juvenile justice system among a probability sample of 3,111 adolescents in the State of Illinois. This processual model of deviant status attainment generates several expectations which find support in the analysis. These expectations are as follows: (1) whether or not one is processed through various stages in the criminal justice system depends on both legal and extralegal criteria; (2) both the strength and the direction of bias in deviant status attainment varies depending on the point in the system; and (3) while the direction of bias in the early stages of processing (including behavioral involvement) favors females, whites, and middle-class youths, toward the end of the process the direction of bias 'reverses' with respect to race and sex classifications. Middle-class youths continue to be treated more favorably. These findings are discussed in the context of a developing theory of 'type-scripting' (Harris, 1977, 1979). The assertion is made and defended that only a processual model of deviant status attainment is capable of rendering the production of bias an understandable phenomenon. Footnotes, tables, and about 25 references are supplied. Study instruments are appended. (Author abstract modified)