Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Boys’ Probability of Arrest and Court Actions in 1980 and 2000

• Author: Merry Morash,Tia Stevens
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204013515280
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• Date: 01 January 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Boys’

Probability of Arrest and Court

Actions in 1980 and 2000:

The Disproportionate Impact

of ‘‘Getting Tough’’ on Crime

Tia Stevens

1

and Merry Morash

2

Abstract

This study was designed to examine whether the shift in juvenile justice policy toward punitive

sanctioning disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minority boys. Using a nationally

representative sample derived from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979 and 1997

(NLSY79, NLSY97), this study examines 1980–2000 differences in contact with the justice system,

controlling for self-reported delinquency. Results confirmed that boys in 2000 were significantly

more likely than those in 1980 to report being charged with a crime. Once charged, they were less

likely to be diverted and more likely to be convicted and placed in a correctional institution. Con-

sideration of interaction effects revealed these effects were magnified for Black and Hispanic males.

These findings provide evidence of a general trend toward more punitive treatment of boys in the

juvenile justice system, especially racial and ethnic minority boys.

Keywords

delinquency, punishment, juvenile justice, race, ethnicity

In 2010, there were more than 1.6 million estimated arrests of juveniles in the United States (Puz-

zanchera & Kang, 2013a) and nearly 1.4 million delinquency cases processed in juvenile courts

(Puzzanchera & Kang, 2013b). Although juvenile arrest rates have been steadily decreasing since

a peak during the mid-1990s, there appears to be a trend toward increased court intervention for

youth. For instance, in 2010, of the approximately 1.4 million delinquency cases processed in

juvenile courts, 54%were handled formally and petitioned, compared to only 45%of cases in

1985 (Puzzanchera & Kang, 2013b).

1

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

2

School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Tia Stevens, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, 1305 Greene Street, Columbia,

SC 29208, USA.

Email: tstevens@mailbox.sc.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2015, Vol. 13(1) 77-95

ªThe Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204013515280

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Historically andcurrently, critics of the juvenile justice system have identified minority overrepre-

sentationas a problem. Indeed,of youth arrested,approximately 34%areracial or ethnic minorityyouth,

and Black youth are more than twice as likely as White youth have been arrested (Puzzanchera

& Kang, 2013a). In 2010, for example, the arrest rate (ages 10 through 17) for Black youth was

9,140 per 100,000 youth, compared to only 4,243 per 100,000 for White youth. Furthermore,

although arrest rates for White and Black youth have been steadily decreasing since their peaks

during the mid-1990s (1996 and 1995, respectively), arrest rates for White youth have been

decreasing at a faster pace than for Black youth. The arrest rate for White juveniles, for exam-

ple, dropped to pre-1980 levels only four years following its peak (in the year 2000), whereas

the arrest rate for Black juveniles dropped to pre-1980 levels 15 years following its peak (in the

year 2010; Puzzanchera & Kang, 2013a).

Studies of disproportionate minority contact with the justice system generally attribute minority

overrepresentation to either differences in the frequency and severity of offending (see, e.g., Beaver

et al., 2013; Tracy, 2002) or to racial and ethnic bias with the justice system (see, e.g., Leiber,

Johnson, Fox, & Lacks, 2007). Studies spread over decades reveal that at least in some parts of the

country in some periods, biased decisions led to harsher justice system responses to minority youth

(Bishop, 2005; Engen, Steen, & Bridges, 2002; Leiber, 2002; Paternoster & Iovanni, 1989). The

present research is not in the tradition of studies on predictors of the decision choices made by agents

of the justice system (e.g., police, judges). However, we extend upon the existing disproportionate

minority contact literature by highlighting the importance of determining whether the trend toward

increased intervention for delinquent youth has disproportionately impacted some demographic

groups more than others. The consistent evidence of bias, along with the evidence from Uniform

Crime Report (UCR), National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), juvenile court, and self-

report research, directed our interest to whether any 1980–2000 differences in the probabilities of

arrest and subsequent points of court involvement net of effects of delinquency, were uniquely pro-

nounced for Black or Hispanic boys, two groups that have been overrepresented in the juvenile jus-

tice system for decades (HACER, 2005; National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2007).

Changes in Youths’ Arrests, Court Involvement, and Behavior

Government reports that compare 1980 with a period two decades later—before and after key ‘‘get

tough’’ reforms in police, school, andjustice system responses to youth—provide an aggregate-level

picture of whether youth entered and penetrated the justice system at different population-based

rates. In a comparison of 1980 and 1999 arrests indicated by UCR data, for most types of

delinquency (e.g., a composite of violent offenses, a composite of property offenses, and separate

measures of murder, forcible rape, and robbery), after a period of increase, decreases resulted in

about the same or lower arrest rates for boys in 1999 as in 1980 (Snyder, 2001).

Police do not refer all arrested youth to juvenile court, and juvenile courts divert some referred

youth. Suggesting some decrease in diversionary practices, despite declines in arrest rates for all but

simple assaults, youth delinquency court case rates increased from 1985 to 2000 (this and subse-

quent 1985 vs. 2000 comparisons in court statistics are from Puzzanchera, Stahl, Finnegan,

Tierney, & Snyder, 2004). For boys, the delinquency case rate grew from 43.3 cases per 1,000 youth

in 1985 to 53.2 cases per 1,000 youth in 2000. The increase was greatest for drug offenses (126%),

moderate for per son offenses (78%), and non existent (a 17%decrease) for property offenses. For boys

coming to court attention, the proportion handled formally (i.e., not diverted or warned) jumped from

48%in 1985 to 60%in 2000. The waron drugs may account for much of boys’ influx into the courts;

every year starting in 1988, drug cases were the type most likely to be handled formally.

Once before the court, boys were equally likely to be adjudicated delinquent in 1985 and 2000.

After adjudication, the chances of probation increased somewhat from 1985 to 2000 (56%vs. 62%),

78 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 13(1)