NCJ Number
235820
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 560-581
Date Published
October 2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the extent to which race and age individually and jointly determined juvenile justice case outcomes.
Abstract
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, the authors discovered that being Black and older increased a youth's chances of receiving an intake court referral and decreased the odds of participation in intake diversion. Age did not condition intake decisionmaking 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 decisionmaking at judicial disposition. (Published Abstract)