Predictors of placement from a juvenile detention facility

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to determine whether certain personal, socioeconomic, and court-related fac tors are significantly related to the differential placement of delinquent and dependent children from the detention facility at the Donald E. Long Home. A stratified random sample was composed of 173 placements of children who were held in detention after a prelhninary hearing.The review of literature revealed that little systematic infor mation is known regarding the placement process as it is related to differential placement of children from a detention fac ility.A code sheet was developed for recording the information in the children's records maintained by the court. Fourteen variables were ultimately selected for analysis of their relationship to differ ential placement. These variables were subjected to three statistical approaches; a descriptive analysis of the random sample, testing of the significance of each variable to the alternatives in placement by either Chi square or analyses of variance, and testing of several var iables in combination by discriminant function.This study was limited by the fact that only demographic variables were tested. Although three individual variables were found to have a high degree of significance in relation to placement, the data as produced within the scope of this research project does not provide an effective placement profile. The need for additional research in the area of the differential placement process is clearly Special acknowledgment is given to Mr. L. Jay Conrad, Thesis Committee Member, without whose advice and encouragement we would not have undertaken this project. We are indebted toMr. Conrad for his untiring commitment to this group and for his unwavering standards of excellence.Finally, our special thanks go to David Brock who generously came to our aid and spent long hours proofreading key punch cards.iii in gathering information about a child on the assumption that the more that is known, the better the treatment plan. It appears, however, that this information is compiled without knowing whether it was needed or useful in the treatment process (Terry, July, 1967;Briar, April, 1963;Sauber, August. 1967).Certain Questions are thereby raised. Not all children who come to the attention of juvenile courts go to state institutions. Is it 2 possible, on the basis of the material in a child's record to predict where he will be placed? What factors influence his placement when he comes to the attention of a juvenile court? Is there a certain con stellation of factors which further affects his placement?Answers to these questions should be helpful in all fields of child welfare. For example, if the correlates of differential place ment outcome are known, the placement for a specific child can be determined. Such data could provide evidence to either substantiate or dispute presently employed placement methods.The purpose of this exploratory study is to determine whether certain personal, socioeconomic, and court-related factors are sig nificantly re...