NCJ Number
208963
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 68 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2004 Pages: 44-48
Date Published
December 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study examined the problem of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system in three rural counties in Texas.
Abstract
While research over the past 20 years has increasingly focused on the problem of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system, not many of these studies have focused on rural southwestern States. The current study revisited the problem of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system in three counties in rural Texas that were researched on this topic in 1990. The purpose of the study was to explore whether the problem had changed in these counties since the original 1990 study, with particular attention paid to the youth’s family, social background, and prior juvenile delinquency involvement. Participants were 316 adolescents who were processed through the juvenile justice systems of the 3 rural counties under examination from January 1999 to December 2000. Participants completed a questionnaire probing demographics, current offense characteristics, and experiences at the predisposition, adjudication, and disposition phases of the system, such as number of days detained and disposition outcomes. Results of statistical analyses indicated that there were significantly more African-American youth in the juvenile justice systems of the three counties than would be expected from their numbers in the population; the problem was noted particularly at intake into the system. Findings also revealed that 72 percent of African-American youth who were detained came from homes with single mothers. Cultural and sensitivity training is suggested for officers, as well as State laws that incorporate standard guidelines for the processing of juvenile offenders. References