Race Disparities In The Juvenile Justice System

Introduction The juvenile justice system has long been a topic of discussion. These discussions consisted of whether or not the system should exist at all and, after it was established, there was debate regarding what rights should and should not be granted to juveniles. The racial disparities that disproportionately affect African American and Latino youth soon became a large part of this discussion. This caused a number of questions to arise regarding the affect race has in juvenile justice decision making. Are these racial disparities a result of discrimination or bias that is prevalent within arresting officers, the juvenile court or both? This paper will examine the effect of race and social context on the treatment, processing and incarceration …show more content…
The study focused on three elements formed from research taken from previous studies. According to Frazier et al., these elements are “the effects of population racial discrimination (percent white), black proportion below the poverty line (black poverty), and difference in the mean income of blacks and whites (racial income inequality) on juvenile justice dispositions” (p. 451). The results support the traditional conflict theory view in respect to minority population size; the lower the African American proportions in population the more likely African Americans are to be disadvantaged in juvenile justice processes. This is thought to be because minority races are more vulnerable due to their lack of political, social and economic resources (Frazier et al., 1992). The findings also found that when measuring levels of power through levels of black poverty and racial income inequality, there is no clear, consistent relationship between these elements and disposition severity (Frazier et al,. 1992). These findings are significant because it connects juvenile justice dispositions and race directly. According to the findings of this study, and some others, large minority populations appear to pose a danger to current dominating groups, in this case white populations. According to Frazier et al., (1992) this study demonstrates that African American …show more content…
According to Frazier and Bishop (1996), this research is different from prior research “because it focuses on differences between the processing of the delinquency and status offense (dependency) cases, rather than simply the juvenile justice system in general” (p. 393). The results demonstrate that among those referred for delinquent behavior, a greater percentage of nonwhites than whites receive the more severe dispositions; this can be observed at each successive stage in processing. In contrast, for status offenses, it appears as though whites are treated more harshly than nonwhites. During the intake screening, more white status offenders are referred to court and that proportions of white repeat offenders that are incarcerated is slightly higher than nonwhites. This information is significant because it illuminates the potential for discrimination at the “bivariate level of analysis” (Frazier and Bishop 1996). These results may also challenge wide spread beliefs that minorities are the only populations at risk for discrimination in the juvenile justice system. Consistent with other research, this studies supports evidence that the element playing the largest role in decision making is the seriousness of the offense and then then the juvenile’s history of offending. However, according to Frazier and Bishop (1996), there is also evidence that