NCJ Number
198971
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 34-70
Date Published
February 2003
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This article examines the effects of race, gender, and family status on juvenile justice decision-making.
Abstract
The authors draw on interpretations of the symbolic threat thesis as a framework for their study, with particular attention given to the literature about racial stereotyping. They use the symbolic threat framework to examine the combined effects of race, gender, and family status on the case processing and outcomes for youthful offenders. While previous research has examined the effects of the individual variables, previous research has not focused on how these variables interact in the decision-making processes of the juvenile justice system. More specifically, the authors hypothesize that along with racial stereotyping, court processes are influenced by stereotypes of women as unequal to men and stereotypes of two-parent families as superior to one-parent families. Data from an Iowa juvenile court were subjected to logistic regression analysis. Results indicated that race certainly affects juvenile case processing, with African-Americans receiving both harsher justice outcomes than whites and more lenient justice outcomes compared to whites. This indicates that the status of African-Americans was not mitigated by gender or family status when it comes to justice outcomes. However, the results revealed that justice outcomes for whites were mitigated by both gender and family status. The authors call for future research to replicate and further explain the results obtained here. Appendices, notes, references