Racial Disparity in Juvenile Diversion

Purpose:Interpretations of focal concerns and “loose coupling” are used to explain juvenile diversion decisions by police and prosecutors from a large metropolitan county in the Midwest.Methods:Juveniles eligible for police diversion are compared to those actually diverted using a population of juve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Race and justice 2016-01, Vol.6 (1), p.35-56
Main Authors: Ericson, Rebecca D, Eckberg, Deborah A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Courts
Juvenile justice
Minors
Police
Race
Racial differences
Racial inequality
Rehabilitation
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Summary:Purpose:Interpretations of focal concerns and “loose coupling” are used to explain juvenile diversion decisions by police and prosecutors from a large metropolitan county in the Midwest.Methods:Juveniles eligible for police diversion are compared to those actually diverted using a population of juveniles arrested in eight police urban and suburban agencies. Multinomial logistic regression is used to analyze data on juveniles referred for charging in the same county.Results:Non-White juveniles were significantly less likely to be diverted by police, formally entering them into the juvenile justice system earlier than their White counterparts. Prosecutors charged, rather than diverted, non-White juveniles significantly more frequently than White juveniles, particularly for theft cases.Conclusion:The racial disparity observed may result from differing focal concerns and loose coupling in the first stages of the justice system.
ISSN:2153-3687
2153-3687
DOI:10.1177/2153368715594848