How Universal Is Disproportionate Minority Contact? An Examination of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice Processing Across Four States

Zane, Steven N.; Mears, Daniel P.; Welsh, Brandon C.

doi:10.1080/07418825.2020.1766544

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The present study utilizes official arrest, processing, and rearrest data as well as retrospective and prospective self‐report data to generate a comprehensive depiction of offending behaviors over time. Reform attempts, extent of DMC, and history of racial tensions differ across the country (Zane, Mears, & Welsh, 2020); as such, this study leverages multisite data to investigate similarities and differences in justice system processing across the country. With these data, we examined 3 primary aims which seek to identify evidence for the differential selection hypothesis and examine the persistent relationship between justice system contact and race for minority youth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Over the Year Following First Arrest

Padgaonkar

Baker

Dapretto

et al. 2020

J of Research on Adolesc

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Minority youth are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system. Examining how racial disparities relate to biased entry into and continued involvement with the system, while accounting for past and current offending, can provide context about the mechanisms behind overrepresentation. 1,216 adolescents were examined after first arrest to explore associations between race and history of self‐reported offending, likelihood of formal processing, and likelihood of rearrest. Black youth committed fewer offenses prior to arrest than White youth, Black and Latino youth were more likely to be formally processed, and Black youth were most likely to be rearrested (even controlling for postbaseline offending), highlighting that minority youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system despite similar or lower levels of criminal behavior.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Over the Year Following First Arrest

Padgaonkar

Baker

Dapretto

et al. 2020

J of Research on Adolesc

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show abstract

“…It is clear that future research must continue to pay attention to the “social structure and context” of juvenile court decision-making (Feld, 1991, p. 156), despite the failure, thus far, to explain adequately why juvenile court outcomes and disparities in processing vary across different contexts. To this end, our results more broadly illustrate the localized yet complex nature of the juvenile justice system and underscore the fact that no single, uniform juvenile justice system exists (see Zane et al, 2020). It is clear that justice varies by geography and future research should seek to investigate the role of other factors as potential sources of this variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Second, and even more importantly, the motivating concern of the present research—that juvenile justice outcomes might vary across geographical units—was supported, although the specific hypotheses about urban-rural differences largely were not. While such variation across counties (e.g., Rodriguez, 2008) as well as states (e.g., Zane et al, 2020) is well established, extant research has not sufficiently explained this variation. Just as “justice by geography” has received limited empirical support, so too have other leading contextual hypotheses such as minority threat (see Zane, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, however, studies using more sophisticated, multilevel modeling techniques have examined the “justice by geography” thesis and reached similarly mixed conclusions. While some recent studies have found greater likelihood of detention, formal petition, adjudication of delinquency, and secure placement in urban courts (e.g., Lowery et al, 2018; Peck & Jennings, 2016; Rodriguez, 2010), more research has not identified any association between county-level urbanism and juvenile court outcomes (Armstrong & Rodriguez, 2005; Bray et al, 2005; Freiburger & Jordan, 2011; Leiber & Peck, 2019; Peck et al, 2019; Lowery & Burrow, 2019; Zane et al, 2020). Additionally, some findings provide only partial support.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Assessing Variations in Juvenile Court Processing in Urban Versus Rural Courts: Revisiting “Justice by Geography”

Pupo

Zane

2021

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

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Drawing on Feld’s (1991) “justice by geography” thesis, we examined whether juvenile court outcomes and case-level influences on those outcomes varied across urban and rural courts. Using a sample of 60,068 juvenile referrals across 66 counties in one state, we estimated direct effects of urbanism on detention, petition, adjudication, and judicial placement, as well as cross-level interactions between urbanism and several case-level factors for each outcome. We found limited support for the hypotheses. First, findings indicated that odds of detention were significantly greater in more urban courts, but indicated no differences in other outcomes. Second, findings also indicated greater extralegal differences (race, sex, and age) in more urban courts—contrary to hypotheses. Taken together, findings highlight the localized yet complex nature of juvenile justice processing and emphasize the need for additional multilevel research assessing the role of other contextual factors as potential sources of variation across macrosocial units.

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“…Relative to their population, Latinx youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system (Zane et al, 2020). Relative to White youth, Latinx youth are also more likely to be adjudicated than White youth, placed in out-of-home placement following adjudication, and have their cases handled formally in the juvenile justice system (Hockenberry & Puzzanchera, 2020).…”

Section: Latinx Youths' Legal Socialization and Justice System Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes toward legal actors among dual system youth

Cavanagh

LaBerge

Cauffman

2021

Journal of Social Issues

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The role of contact with the child welfare system (CWS) in legal socialization is not well understood. This is particularly true of youth who have contact with both the juvenile justice system and the CWS, known as dual system (DS) youth. Furthermore, much of the legal socialization research excludes Latinx youth, for whom legal socialization may function differently. Is CWS contact, compared to-and in addition to-juvenile justice system contact, associated with Latinx youths' attitudes toward police and judges? The present study addresses this research question among a sample of 417 Latinx youth who had been arrested for the first time, 74 of whom were DS youth. Results indicated that DS youth perceive police as less biased, and both police and judges as more legitimate, than their juvenile justice system-only counterparts. CWS contact was not associated with perceptions of situational procedural justice for police or judges, suggesting that CWS contact colors general attitudes toward legal actors' bias and legitimacy, but not specific interactions with legal actors. The results suggest that CWS contact, above and beyond juvenile justice system contact, has a nuanced impact on children's legal socialization.

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How Universal Is Disproportionate Minority Contact? An Examination of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice Processing Across Four States

Cited by 15 publications

References 75 publications

Exploring Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Over the Year Following First Arrest

Exploring Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Over the Year Following First Arrest

Assessing Variations in Juvenile Court Processing in Urban Versus Rural Courts: Revisiting “Justice by Geography”

Attitudes toward legal actors among dual system youth

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