The Contexts of Juvenile Justice Decision Making: When Race Matters

Chapter 6 The Influence of Legal and Extralegal Factors on Decision Making

Chapter 6 The Influence of Legal and Extralegal Factors on Decision Making In this chapter, a summary of the results from the examination of the race associations with each decision-making stage for each jurisdiction is presented. Next, the discussion centers on the findings from the multivariate analysis in the form of logistic regression to determine if the bivariate relationships remain once legal and extralegal factors are considered. BOND In this jurisdiction, African American juveniles are more likely than white youth to be referred to petition at intake and less likely to be diverted from further juvenile court involvement via an informal adjustment (table 6.1). Bond has a strong emphasis on intervention, and while this has consequences for African American youth, the relative effect is not as dramatic as in the other jurisdictions. After controlling for legally relevant case characteristics and extralegal considerations, the effect of race on intake decision making remains for referrals to petition (table 6.1). African American youth have a 12 percent higher likelihood than white youth to receive a recommendation for further court processing . Of the remaining social characteristics and indicators of school involvement , age and not attending school impact intake decision making. Five of the seven legal variables are also predictors of the dependent variable, and the effects are in the expected direction. Most of the significant predictors of decisions to recommend further court proceedings also explain the use of diversion, with four exceptions (column 2). Race is not a statistically significant determinant of the use of informal adjustments in Bond. Thus, the finding that African Americans are 73 TABLE 6.1 Logistic Regression Results for Intake for Bond Release/ Adjustment vs. Release vs. Further Court Adjustment/Further Processing Court Processing Variable (1) (2) Social Characteristics Race .50** ⫺.21 (.19) (.23) Gender .06 ⫺.06 (.15) (.18) Age .11** ⫺.04 (.04) (.04) Family status .06 ⫺.08 (.12) (.15) School Attending, but problems .08 .03 (.15) (.18) Not attending .62** .28 (.20) (.28) Legal Number of prior referrals .26** ⫺.06* (.03) (.03) Court authority 1.37** .43* (.14) (.20) Number of current charges .26** .40** (.08) (.15) Crime severity 1.74** .53* (.15) (.22) Property .20 .50** (.16) (.18) Person .58** ⫺.37** (.20) (.21) Drugs .19 .14 (.20) (.22) ⫺2 log likelihood 1,876.85 1416.78 N 2020 2020 NOTE: Regression coefficients, standard error ( ). *p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. 74 less likely to participate in diversion than whites appears to be the result of legal factors—such as offense type—rather than racial bias. The number of prior referrals and type of crime also have different effects on the use of release or diversion compared to referrals for further court processing . Youth with fewer past referrals to juvenile court are more likely to be released. While being charged with a personal offense is a predictor of recommendations for further court processing, offenses involving property and drugs influence participation in diversionary outcomes. Recall that in the early analysis, race was not found to be associated with decision making at any stage following intake in Bond. Similarly, race is not a statistically significant determinant of decision making at petition, initial appearance , adjudication, and judicial disposition once legal and extralegal factors are controlled (table 6.2). Age is predictive of decisions at petition (column 1), initial appearance (column 2), and judicial disposition (column 4).Older youth are more likely to be petitioned and receive a change of placement/transfer to adult court.1 Younger youth have a greater chance of being diverted at the initial appearance hearing than older youth. Family structure is not a statistically significant determinant of decision making at any stage in Bond. Of the legal factors, the number of prior referrals, being under court authority , the number of current charges, and being charged with property and drug crimes predict decision making at various stages in the proceedings, and the effects are in the anticipated directions. For example, youth charged with either a property offense or a drug offense are more likely to receive community treatment instead of a change of placement at judicial disposition or transfer to adult court (column 4). In summary, legal factors, and to a lesser degree, the extralegal characteristic of age, are determinants of decision making at every stage in the proceedings in Bond. While legal and extralegal factors appear to explain the race differences in the use of diversion at intake, African American youth are still more...