NCJ Number
176291
Date Published
Unknown
Length
251 pages
Annotation
This report evaluates the effectiveness of efforts by the Franklin County (Ohio) Juvenile Court to reduce delinquency filings and confinements against minority youth.
Abstract
The study analyzed a randomly selected sample of 2,000 delinquency cases, stratified by race and gender, and interviewed selected Court staff. It identified key decision points for comparison: intake, arraignment, adjudication, disposition and recidivism. The study concluded that the practices found in Franklin County Juvenile Court were, in the main, reasonable and fair, despite the use of dissimilar dispositions in cases involving the same offenses. Case decisions appeared to be based on realistic consideration of dissimilar criminal and social histories, family-support and/or community-support networks, and other aggravating and mitigating characteristics. The study recommends that the relationship of socioeconomic factors to criminality should be completely reexamined. That type of research would likely confirm that race, in and of itself, should not be treated as the only, or even the most important, determinant of system fairness. Notes, tables, figure, appendixes