NCJ Number
143666
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 69-78
Date Published
1993
Length
10 pages
Annotation
A sample of 126 male police officers from eight police departments in five Georgia metropolitan areas made charging decisions for eight vignettes based on actual police reports of police-juvenile encounters; the study hypothesized that police officers would make differential charging decisions based on the race of the alleged offender.
Abstract
Five charging decisions or dependent variables were selected for testing: the number of offenses charged, the number of counts per offense charged, the sum severity of offenses charged, the maximum severity of offenses charged, and the number of no charges. The study found modest offense-related, bidirectional race effects that were apparently components of police charging practices. Blacks were more likely than whites to be charged with more offenses, and whites were more likely than blacks not to be charged. Generally, blacks and whites were charged equally with serious offenses. An exception to this finding was the offense of alcohol possession, for which white youth were treated more harshly than blacks; however, alcohol possession was the least serious of the eight primary offenses presented in the vignettes. Police bias at the entry point of the juvenile justice system can result in "loading up" offenses on black youth, which increases the probability that they will penetrate further into the system, resulting in harsher outcomes for black youth than for whites. Suggestions for future study methodology in this area are offered. 1 table, 1 figure, and 24 references