ROLE OF RACE IN JUVENILE JUSTICE PROCESSING IN PENNSYLVANIA

• NCJ Number: 142827
• Author(s): K L Kempf
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 188 pages
• Grant Number(s): 89-90/J/01/3615
• Sponsoring Agency: Pennsylvania Cmssn on Crime and Delinquency
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; Ctr for Juvenile Justice Training and Research
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Final Report

Annotation

This study of white, black, and Hispanic youth in Pennsylvania found that juvenile justice outcomes were influenced directly by race at every stage except adjudication.

Abstract

Data were collected on 2,016 juvenile delinquency cases from 14 Pennsylvania counties in 1989, equally distributed as 672 each in urban, suburban, and rural court categories. In addition to information recorded in case files, the study obtained data from juvenile justice staff regarding their perceptions of the system. Surveys were distributed to 901 probation officers, 128 judges, 98 police officers, and 44 treatment providers. The response rate was estimated at 52 percent overall, 49 percent for probation officers, and 33 percent for juvenile court judges. The findings showed that, although juvenile justice outcomes were influenced directly by race at every stage except adjudication, harsher outcomes at early stages retained minorities in the system at a higher rate and affected eventual case outcomes. Cases referred to court were judged as needing formal processing more often when minority youth were involved. Minority youth were also more frequently detained than white youth in similar situations, except for minor offenses when the reverse was true. At the disposition stage, only white youth with the most offensive cases remained for intervention, and these white youth received placement dispositions more often than comparable black or Hispanic youth. White youth placements, however, most often involved group home settings or drug treatment, while minority youth placements typically involved public residential facilities. Considering that serious drug offending was virtually absent among cases involving white youth and that juvenile justice personnel rated the quality and treatment provided by public residential programs less favorably than other placement options, the findings suggest that the interests of minority youth are not being met adequately in Pennsylvania. Recommendations to reform Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system to enhance equity in outcome are offered. Appendixes provide further information on the study's research design, data analysis, and results. 61 references, 43 tables, and 52 figures