Factors Influencing the Police Disposition of Juvenile Offenders (From Delinquency - Selected Studies, P 138-149, 1969, Thorsten Sellin and Marvin E Wolfgang, ed. - See NCJ-76868)

• NCJ Number: 72873
• Author(s): W F Hohenstein
• Date Published: 1969
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An analysis of dispositions of juvenile delinquents by the Philadelphia police in 1960 revealed that the attitude of the victim was the most important factor in influencing decisions to divert the offender from court adjudication.

Abstract

National statistics indicate that police use of extrajudicial dispositions for juveniles is increasing. While this trend is commendable in many cases, it does distort juvenile court intake and disposition statistics. This study was based on 504 events representing 10 percent of the reported delinquency offenses in 1960 and involving juveniles who committed acts which resulted in personal injury, property loss, or property damage. Officers of the juvenile division in Philadelphia's police department are responsible for deciding if juveniles should be arrested, sent to detention facilities, or diverted into remedial programs. The formal criteria that are supposed to guide this decision consider the offender's previous police contacts, type of offense, victim's attitude, offender's family situation, and potential community resources. The data from police records were analyzed by a predictive technique called Predictive Attribute Analysis which is described in detail, including coding procedures. The following variables which could affect the police decision were selected: seriousness of offense, number of victims and offenders; age, sex, and race of both victims and offenders; information on discovery of the event and apprehension of the offender; victim's attitude toward prosecution; previous delinquent record of the offender; victim-offender relationship; and data concerning property damage and recovery. The study found that the major influence on disposition was the attitude of the victim and not the seriousness of the offense or the offender's record. For example, an offender with a good previous record and guilty of a minor offense was more likely to be arrested than an offender whom the victim refused to prosecute, regardless of the seriousness of the crime or the offender's criminal history. Age and sex of both offender and victim, as well as the number of offenders, were irrelevant to the disposition decision. Footnotes and a bibiliography of five articles are included. For related entries, see NCJ 72869-72 and 72874.