NCJ Number
100987
Date Published
1985
Length
157 pages
Annotation
This study identifies the factors that influence the Hennepin County (Minnesota) juvenile court's out-of-home placements for delinquents and status offenders.
Abstract
The primary subsample consisted of all juveniles appearing in court between January 1, 1981, and December 31, 1983 (8,305). The second subsample consisted of siblings of juveniles in the first group who appeared before the court, regardless of the period (2,348). The defendant variable was a placement order. Explanatory variables were present offense severity, extent and severity of criminal history, age, detention status, prior placement history, prior probation supervision, and the length of time between adjudications. The analysis used log linear modeling. Present and past offense severity had no significant influence on placement decisions for girls. Placement decisions for girls were generally based on court perceptions of needs underlying the problem behavior. Female behaviors likely to yield placement responses were drug or alcohol abuse, belligerence toward adult authority and blatant disregard for normative conduct standards, persistent escapist behavior, and suspected or known prostitution. Most of the study's explanatory variables were related to the placement odds for boys. A surprising finding was that white males and females were more likely than minority youth to be given out-of-home placements. Policy implications are drawn from the findings. Tabular data.