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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:55 pm
Time: 8:55 pm
Results for latino youth
1 results foundAuthor: Haight, Konrad Title: An Examination of Ethnic Disparities in Arizona's Juvenile Justice System: Final Technical Report Summary: Research on disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system has generally concluded that Black youth are subject to disparate treatment such that they typically are more likely than White youth to face more formal and more punitive treatment at the various decision points in the juvenile court process. Research on disparate treatment for Latino youth in the juvenile justice system has been relatively rare, and the results of those studies have provided inconsistent evidence on the nature of disparities between Latino and White youth. This study sought to address such gaps in the research with a comprehensive assessment of juvenile justice case processing for a two-year period in the state of Arizona. Using a data set particularly well-suited for this examination, we believe the results of this study contribute meaningfully to the literature on ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. Using data from the state of Arizona that included 75,316 referrals to the juvenile justice system over the two-year period from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014, we applied five research questions to data on eight distinct decision points. We controlled for key legal factors such as the referral offense, the number of prior referrals, and whether the youth was involved in dependency court in addition to juvenile court. The level of detail in the data allowed us to investigate whether disparity varied depending on the type of referral offense and the county in which the youth was referred. Does disparity affecting Latino youth exist statewide in Arizona? If we look at rates of referral to juvenile court, we find that White youth are actually more likely to be referred to juvenile court than Latino youth. This is in contrast to the patterns of referral rates for Black and Native American youth-both groups are more likely than White youth to be referred to juvenile court, with Black youth referred more than twice as often as White youth. Once they are referred to juvenile court, however, there are a number of ways that Latino youth experience their processing in the juvenile justice system disproportionately more punitive than White youth. Latino youth are underrepresented in diversions from formal court processing, and overrepresented in direct filings to adult court, in pre-adjudicatory secure detention, in petitions filed for formal juvenile court processing, and in commitments to correctional facilities at disposition. Does observed disparity affecting Latino youth remain when we control for other factors that might impact juvenile justice decision making? Based on multivariate analyses that controlled for the influence of age, gender, number of priors, most serious current offense, and dependency status, we find that the disparities identified above remain even after taking into account these other factors. Across the state, if they were referred to juvenile court, Latino youth were less likely than White youth to receive an opportunity to avoid formal court processing and more likely to experience more punitive treatment at the various decision points. Does disparity affecting Latino youth vary by county? We did find a pattern of results that was generally consistent across the different counties. This pattern is that Latino youth are less likely than White youth to be referred to juvenile court and to be diverted from formal court processing, but more likely to be securely detained prior to adjudication, have a petition filed for formal court processing, and be committed to a correctional facility after disposition. We did find some counties where this pattern was not detected, and those were the counties in which the Latino youth were the largest racial/ethnic group in the general population. Does disparity affecting Latino youth vary based on the type of offense for which the youth was referred? By considering each decision point broken down by the type of offense, we find there are complexities to the patterns of disparities for Latino youth in juvenile courts in Arizona. For example, Latino youth are overall less likely to be referred to juvenile court than White youth, except in the case of violent felonies, status offenses, and violations, for which we find Latino youth to be more likely than White youth to be referred to court. Also, Latino youth are overrepresented in secure detention placements, except when the offense was a violation or a violent misdemeanor. In addition, the biggest disparities for Latino youth with regard to the filing of petitions for formal court processing are in the case of property misdemeanors and for drug felonies. Finally, while we find that Latino youth are more likely to be committed to correctional placements after disposition, the disparities are greatest for violent misdemeanors and felonies and for drug felonies. Does disparity affecting Latino youth differ depending on whether the county of referral is participating in JDAI? We find that at several of the decision points, the disparities between Latino and White youth in the JDAI counties are smaller than what we find in the non-JDAI counties, particularly at the decision points of direct file, diversion, petition, and probation. There are other decision points where the differences between JDAI and non-JDAI counties are rather small, namely secure detention and adjudication. Placement in correctional facilities is one decision point where Latino youth in the JDAI counties fare worse than in non-JDAI counties. Key findings from this study include: - Latino youth are not overrepresented in referrals to juvenile court, but they do experience disparate treatment once they are in the system. - Latino youth are more likely than White youth to experience the most severe and restrictive punishments that the juvenile justice system has to offer. This includes direct filings in adult court, placement in pre-adjudicatory secure detention, and placement in confinement following disposition. - When it comes to severe and restrictive punishments, Black youth experience greater levels of disparity than Latino youth. - In most cases, legal factors that we controlled for do not account for the observed disparities. - Patterns of disparity are consistent across counties for Black youth, but this is not true of Latino youth, where disparity appears to vary with the proportion of the population that are Latino. - Disparity varies depending on the type of offense and this is consistent across racial and ethnic groups. The data used for this study are particularly well-suited for examining the extent to which Latino youth experience disparate treatment in the juvenile justice system. As such, the results can help guide future research and help policy makers in their efforts to address ethnic disparities. Implications for policy and practice include: - Ongoing assessment of disparity should move beyond a statewide only approach, focusing on areas with the greatest levels of disparity to ensure more efficient use of resources while generating greater reductions in disparity. - In counties where one race/ethnicity experiences greater disparity than other, it may make sense to work with those communities to determine the root of the problem. Where disparity is experienced across race/ethnicity groups, it may make more sense to look at official policies and procedures that might contribute to disparity across the board. - Future studies should augment their focus on county-level relative rates of risk with a county-level understanding of the juvenile justice system. Policies and practices at the county level can impact disparity and are vital to not only understanding why disparity exists, but also how to address it. - Future studies should incorporate a more complete understanding of previous offense histories, risk assessment scores, and include data collected over a longer period of time. - Whenever possible, it is important to consider ways that responses to particular offenses may introduce disparities in processing of youth through the court progression. Details: Indianapolis, IN: American Institutes for Research, 2016. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250803.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250803.pdf Shelf Number: 146384 Keywords: Disproportionate Minority ContactJuvenile CourtJuvenile Justice SystemsLatino YouthMinority YouthRacial BiasRacial Disparities |