Race and Juvenile Court Dispositions - An Examination of Initial Screening Decisions

• NCJ Number: 79815
• Author(s): C E Pope; W H Feyerherm
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 15 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The focus of the analysis is the processing of juveniles in California, in particular the decision at intake to release, handle informally, or handle case with a formal petition. The analysis indicates that the legally relevant set of variables has a greater impact on processing than race. Indeed, age of the juvenile has a greater impact on processing than race.

Abstract

Allegations of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system abound. Many theorists appear to accept such discrimination as a demonstrated fact. However, a review of research is not so conclusive; mixed results are apparent. The current analysis examines the relative impact of race and other social factors as compared to a set of legally relevant variables such as referral offense and referral source. (Publisher abstract)