NCJ Number
233402
Journal
Pediatrics Volume: 127 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 49-57
Date Published
January 2010
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined the criminal justice and school disciplinary outcomes for nonheterosexual youth.
Abstract
Results of the study indicate that nonheterosexual adolescents were at a consistently higher risk for criminal justice and school sanctions than heterosexual adolescents. The results also indicate that nonheterosexual female adolescents were at particularly high risk for receiving criminal justice and school sanctions than heterosexual female adolescents. Data for this study were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The survey was conducted on a nationally representative sample of adolescents who were in grades 7 through 12 in 1994-1995. Data from the 1994-1995 survey and a follow-up survey conducted in 2001-2002 were analyzed to determine the level of risk for sanctions experienced by nonheterosexual youth. The study used three measures to assess nonheterosexuality: same-sex attraction, same-sex romantic relationships, and lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) self-identification. Multivariate analyses were used to assess nonheterosexual youths' risk for school expulsion, police stops, juvenile arrest, juvenile conviction, adult arrest, and adult conviction. The results of the analyses indicate that nonheterosexual youths are at a greater risk for educational and criminal justice punishments than heterosexual youth; this increased risk could not be explained by nonheterosexual youths' greater engagement in illegal or transgressive behaviors. Tables, references, and appendixes