Joseph D. Johnson

Being Young and Black: What Are Their Effects on Juvenile Justice Decision Making?

This study examined the extent to which race and age individually and jointly determined juvenile justice case outcomes at intake and judicial disposition among males in one county juvenile court in the state of Iowa. Using an interpretation of the symbolic threat thesis and the emphasis on stereotyping as the theoretical framework, we discovered that being Black and older increased a youths chances of receiving an intake court referral and decreased the odds of participation in intake diversion. Age did not condition intake decision making for African Americans but was discovered to temper case outcomes for Whites. Although individual relationships were found, there was no evidence of joint race-age effects in decision making at judicial disposition.

Contexts of Decision Making in the Juvenile Justice System: An Organizational Approach to Understanding Minority Overrepresentation

Significant advances have been made in our understanding of the origins and dynamics of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned. In this article, the authors explore the impact of race on juvenile justice processing by examining the organizational contexts in which decisions are made. They offer a theoretical framework that combines insights from organizational theory and the focal concerns perspective and that focuses on the organizational players (action sets) involved in decision making from intake to final disposition. Based on the composition of action sets, and their corresponding value orientations, the authors make predictions regarding the influence of sociodemographic, legal, and extralegal variables at each processing juncture. The empirical test provides a reasonably good fit with the data. Implications for further research are discussed.

Fear of Crime in Botswana: Impact of Gender, Victimization, and Incivility

The subject of fear of crime has generated a substantial body of empirical study within Western industrialized society. However, the current focus on comparative criminology inspires efforts to study fear of crime cross culturally. This study attempts to assess some of the widely accepted predictors and conclusions of fear of crime found in developed nations on the urbanized capital city of Botswana. More specifically, in this article, the author explores the relationships between gender, victimization, incivility, and fear of crime in Gaborone, Botswana. Findings suggest that gender, victimization, and, in part, the environment are all useful in explaining fear of crime in Gaborne. However, it appears that gender, more than victimization and incivility, is itself a genuinely powerful determinant of fear of crime.