NCJ Number
79330
Date Published
1979
Length
113 pages
Annotation
Police decisions on how to handle juvenile offenses before and after the start of the Illinois Status Offender Services (ISOS) Project in four Chicago communities and Decatur, Ill., are analyzed.
Abstract
The ISOS project was designed to increase program alternatives for juvenile status offenders and reduce their involvement with the juvenile justice system. The project emphasizes police diversion of status offenders to appropriate community services. The first section of the study deals with the patterns of juvenile offenses and decisions or dispositions by police before and after ISOS, and the second section focuses on the data aggregated across communities, with special interest in offender rather than offense patterns. Findings indicate that after the start of ISOS, there was less distinction between 'good' and 'bad' communities in the pattern of police contacts with status offenders. Further, communities with extensive juvenile crime problems are using the court more, while communities with less crime problems are using community resources more. Data in the report's second section suggest that while sex role appears to play a dominant role in the deviant behavior of status offenders, family, and to some extent, community organization also are important in the development of chronic status offenders. Also, more organized communities have some effect, particularly in the prevention of chronic delinquency careers for girls. Such communities appear to make less use of juvenile justice resources and more use of family and local resources. Tabular data and 15 footnotes are provided, and supplementary data and material are appended.