Racial Disparities in the Punishment of Youth: A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of the Literature

• NCJ Number: 196279
• Journal: Social Problems Volume: 49 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 194-220
• Author(s): Rodney L. Engen; Sara Steen; George S. Bridges
• Date Published: May 2002
• Length: 27 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research Paper
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article presents study data regarding minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system.

Abstract

The authors explored the overrepresentation of minority youths in the juvenile justice system from a variety of theoretical perspectives including the differential involvement theories, structural-processual theories and macro-contextual approaches. The authors analyzed existing empirical research and literature in order to conduct this study. The study was designed to address nine hypotheses: 1) research studies designed to control for prior offenses and seriousness of offense were less effective tools for determining the effect of race on dispositions; 2) research studies designed to control for socioeconomic and family structure factors were less effective tools for determining the effect of race on dispositions; 3) research studies which examined summary measures of processing severity or system penetration were more effective tools for determining the effect of race on dispositions; 4) research studies which examined the earlier stages of the juvenile justice process were more likely than studies focusing on the later stages of the process to find direct race effects; 5) research studies that controlled for discretion earlier in the process were more likely to find direct race effects; 6) research studies that controlled for social or court characteristics would be less likely to find direct race effects; 7) studies of processing in mixed or non-urban jurisdictions were more likely than studies of urban areas to find direct race effects; 8) recent studies were more likely than older studies to produce findings of racial effect; and 9) research studies conducted in the South were more likely than studies in other regions to produce findings of racial effect. In general the authors found a significant relationship between race and the severity of disposition of juvenile offenders, to the extent that certain analyzed research produced no effect, the authors suggested that some of that failure may be due to methodological deficiencies in the original research studies. 3 tables, 6 notes, 95 references