Have Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice Declined Over Time? An Empirical Assessment of the DMC Mandate

Abstract

The present study examines whether racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice declined significantly in a state that has made substantial reform efforts in compliance with the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) mandate. Using a sample of all referrals in Connecticut with final disposition in 2000 (N = 18,458) or 2010 (N = 12,265), the study employed multilevel modeling with cross-level interactions to assess whether disparities changed over time for five outcomes: detention, petition, adjudication, commitment, and waiver to criminal court. Findings indicated that Black-White disparities in detention decreased over time, while Black-White disparities increased for petition, adjudication, and waiver. Findings also indicated that Hispanic-White disparities increased for adjudication (while not changing for other outcomes). The limited success of the DMC mandate may be explained by implementation failure or theory failure. Adjudicating between these alternative explanations is needed to guide future reform efforts. Several implications for research and policy are discussed, including whether reform efforts should focus on overall harm reduction rather than proportional representation.

Early Adolescent Predictors of Violent Behavior: Child and Contextual Risk, and Moderation by Rejecting Parenting

“…Crime rates have decreased, and the justice system has evolved in ensuing years, with states raising their legal age of majority, or threshold of adulthood as recognized by law, in order to reduce juvenile crime rates (Arora, 2019; Loeffler & Chalfin, 2017). Furthermore, disparities between African American and Caucasian persons have increased in petitions, adjudications, and waivers, such that African Americans are disproportionately, negatively affected (Zane, 2020). Future research should explore how the individual and contextual factors explored in this study relate to delinquency and AB in the more recent context of the current criminal justice system and in relation to race-related disparities.…”

Developmental predictors of offending and persistence in crime: A systematic review of meta-analyses

“…The various longitudinal studies (e.g., Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development; Pittsburgh Youth Study; Dunedin Longitudinal Study) conducted over the years have resulted in a new era of theories on developmental criminology (Farrington, 2006;Loeber, 2019;Moffitt, 2018;Wikstrom et al, 2012), with several practical implications for justice policies (e.g., Zane, 2021), assessment tools (e.g., Wormith, 2011), and more effective interventions (e.g., Tremblay et al, 2003).…”