Jennifer H. Peck

Minority Threat and Juvenile Court Outcomes

Framed within the racial/ethnic threat thesis, the present research examined the relative effects of the size of minority populations and the ratios of White-to-minority unemployment on intake, adjudication, and judicial disposition decision making within juvenile court proceedings. Communities with greater Black and Hispanic presence and greater economic equality were expected to increase the social control for youth up to a point, where social control would then diminish. These relationships were anticipated to be stronger for Blacks than Hispanics. The overall pattern of results failed to yield support specifically for these hypothesized effects and in general, for the minority threat perspective. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Race, Gender, Crime Severity, and Decision Making in the Juvenile Justice System

Based on interpretations of an integrated focal concerns and loosely coupling framework, individual and joint relationships involving race and gender with case outcomes were examined as well as possible tempering effects by crime severity and the stage in the proceedings. The results from multiple logistic regression indicate mixed support for the theoretical framework in terms of the ability to determine at what stages race and gender effects would be most evident. Crime severity was predictive of decision making and in some cases had a conditioning effect on the discovered race/gender relationships with case outcomes. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Probation Violations and Juvenile Justice Decision Making: Implications for Blacks and Hispanics

Prior research has cited that probation violations and in particular technical violations are increasing as a justification for increased social control within juvenile justice proceedings. This issue is especially acute for minority youth. The focus of the present study is to address a void in the literature by assessing the interrelationships among probation violations and race/ethnicity with juvenile justice decision making within six jurisdictions in a Mid-Atlantic state. The findings reveal that probation violations result in severe outcomes at some stages and leniency at other points in the proceedings. Blacks and Hispanics individually impact decision making in a similar manner. Probation violations and race/ethnicity do not interact to the extent as predicted. Implications are discussed in the context of reducing the disproportionate presence and confinement of minority youth in the juvenile justice system.

Gender, Race, and Juvenile Court Outcomes: An Examination of Status Offenders

The intersectionality perspective suggests that the treatment of females and minority youth may be based on one’s social location in terms of oppression and privilege. Applying this perspective to juvenile court outcomes and based on prior research, the current study attempts to understand the individual and joint effects of gender and race on the treatment of status offenders at two decision-making stages of the juvenile justice system. Results from juvenile court referrals in two mid-Atlantic states indicate that gender and race, both individually and in combination, impact case outcomes in terms of both severity and leniency. While results are not always in the anticipated direction, the findings reveal that gender and race still matter in the decision to receive a court referral at intake and whether to adjudicate status offenders.

When does Race and Gender Matter? The Interrelationships between the Gender of Probation Officers and Juvenile Court Detention and Intake Outcomes

Racial and gender disparities in case outcomes have recently been explained by a focus on the characteristics of court officers within the context of the interplay between discretion, stereotyping, and the perceptions of decision-makers. Using data within a single juvenile court jurisdiction, the present study continues this line of inquiry to assess: (1) how race and gender, individually and in combination, influence juvenile justice decision-making and (2) how court outcomes for certain race/gender combinations are conditioned by the gender of the court officer. Results indicate that, to some degree, the race and gender of the youth along with the gender of the court officer influenced case outcomes; however, the findings were not always in the expected direction. The results have implications for broadening the contexts of detention and intake decision-making, and may also better inform efforts to address the equitable treatment of youth in the juvenile justice system.

The Conditioning Effects of Race and Gender on the Juvenile Court Outcomes of Delinquent and “Neglected” Types of Offenders

Drawing upon concepts from prior research that emphasize race and gender stereotyping, the present research compares how delinquent and “neglected” types of offenses (i.e. status offenses, probation violations, youth charged with contempt) are treated across three juvenile court outcomes. Beyond how offense type may directly impact case outcomes, we also investigated whether race and gender influenced juvenile justice processing within each offense type. Using data from two Mid-Atlantic States, results indicated that type of offense, race, and gender resulted in both severe and lenient case outcomes depending on the stage examined. By including different types of offenses that represent a significant percentage of youth that have been relatively neglected in prior research, the current study provides greater insight into the contexts of race and gender disparities in juvenile justice decision-making. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are also discussed.

Juvenile involvement in fratricide and sororicide: an empirical analysis of 32 years of U.S. arrest data

Despite the interest in juvenile homicide offenders, few studies have systematically examined their involvement in incidents involving specific victims. This study focused on one victim type, the killings of siblings. To date, siblicide research has been based primarily on case studies. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used to systematically investigate offender, victim, and incident characteristics associated with fratricides and sororicides committed by juvenile homicide offenders in single victim, single offender incidents over a 32-year period (1976–2007), as recorded in the Supplementary Homicide Report data base. Juvenile sororicide offenders, relative to juvenile fratricide offenders, were significantly more likely to be female and to kill younger victims. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings in terms of past research, their implications for intervention and prevention, and directions for future research.

The Intersection of Crime Seriousness, Discretion, and Race: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis

Spohn and Cederblom’s interpretation of the liberation hypothesis asserts that with trivial crimes, judges are “liberated” to consider extra-legal attributes such as race when making sentencing decisions. The current study posits that this perspective may be too theoretically simplistic because it fails to distinguish between the concepts of discretion and uncertainty. In light of this argument, we examine the sentencing decisions of felony cases in the Florida circuit courts. Results indicate that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be imprisoned than whites, and males more so than females. Contrary to expectations, this disparity increases with crime seriousness. Consistent with the imprisonment model, blacks and males receive longer sentences and the effect increases with case seriousness. We found no evidence that the effect of offender extra-legal attributes depends upon the characteristics of the judges handling the cases. Suggestions for future research and implications for the liberation hypothesis are discussed.

Understanding the Link Between Race/Ethnicity, Drug Offending, and Juvenile Court Outcomes:

Compared with criminal sentencing decisions, limited research has assessed the impact of an imagery of a “dangerous” offender on the interrelationships between race/ethnicity and juvenile court outcomes. Applying base premises from Steen, Engen, and Gainey’s perspective concerning the dangerous drug offender stereotype, the present study examines the case outcomes of White, Black, and Hispanic youth charged with drug offenses and who match the stereotype of a “dangerous drug offender” (male drug seller with a prior record). Findings suggest that youth who fully matched the stereotype were more likely to receive harsher dispositions compared with those who have some or none of the characteristics, but the magnitude of these effects for Whites did not exceed those of Blacks and Hispanics.

Race: Prespectives and Crime

The empirical and theoretical literature surrounding the relationship between race and crime has found that in general, minorities (especially Blacks) are overrepresented as offenders compared to their representation in the general US population. Two potential explanations for this racial disparity are differential offending and selection bias. This article describes various theoretical perspectives of the relationship between race and crime, with a primary focus of why minorities may commit more crime/more serious crime and are overrepresented as offenders through both the juvenile and adult justice system.