Race and Decision Making Within Juvenile Justice: The Importance of Context

• NCJ Number: 160784
• Journal: Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1995) Pages: 363-388
• Author(s): M J Leiber; K M Jamieson
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 26 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2218; 715-90-RP-01
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Northern Iowa; Iowa Dept of Human Rights
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using a revised conflict perspective that incorporates the role of racial stereotyping, this study developed and tested hypotheses that centered on racial differences in case-processing decisions within four jurisdictions in Iowa.

Abstract

Previous tests of the influence of race on decisionmaking within juvenile justice proceedings have traditionally focused on case-level variables and/or macrolevel factors that characterized the jurisdictions under study. Often excluded were measures of the attitudinal context within which decisionmaking occurred. For this study, the sample was drawn from four urban counties that had a greater distribution of nonwhite minorities than other jurisdictions in the State. Delinquency cases were selected from each county for the 12 years from 1980 to 1991. A random sample of referrals identified as white (n=4,235) was selected, and disproportionate random sampling was used to select African- American referrals (n=2,691). These procedures resulted in a total sample size of 6,926. Five contextual variables were used to test the major premises of the study. Two measures represented juvenile decisionmakers' views on the punishment of youthful offenders and perceived racial differences in crime commission and cooperation with the adjudication processes. The social structural context of a jurisdiction was captured by the overall poverty rate, the level of racial economic inequality, and the rate of juvenile arrests. Decisionmaker attitudes toward the importance of punishment was measured through responses to two statements from a self-report questionnaire. Five decisionmaking stages in the juvenile justice system constituted dependent variables: intake, petition, initial appearance, adjudication, and judicial disposition. Results show both lenient and harsh treatment of African-Americans are included in additive and race- interactive models of five decisionmaking stages. Results show both lenient and harsh treatment of African-Americans compared to whites. Hypotheses regarding racial stereotyping in the decisionmaking process receive some support, and the discussion focuses on how inconsistent racial effects may be a function of variation in structural "coupling" across system decision points. 7 tables and 72 references