The War on Drugs in Juvenile Court? The Influence of Community Context on Juvenile Court Outcomes for White, Black, and Hispanic Youth

• Published date: 01 January 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15412040241291968
• Author: Jennifer H. Peck
• Date: 01 January 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

2025, Vol. 23(1) 3–33

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/15412040241291968

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The War on Drugs in Juvenile

Court? The Inf‌luence of

Community Context on Juvenile

Court Outcomes for White,

Black, and Hispanic Youth

Jennifer H. Peck

1



Abstract

Prior research on race/ethnicity and juvenile court processing have found that youth of color

often receive disadvantaged outcomes compared to their White counterparts, and that com-

munity context may condition this relationship. The current study examined this association

between race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic) and type of drug offense (possession vs. dis-

tribution) with adjudication and disposition outcomes, especially the tempering effect of dis-

advantaged community characteristics. Results from multi-level models indicated that Black you th

who were charged with a drug distribution offense were more likely to receive residential

placement compared to similarly situated Whites. Underclass poverty and racial/ethnic inequality

moderated these associations, but the signif‌icance and direction of the results differed depending

on the stage examined. The f‌indings reveal ongoing racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice

system, and offer clearer insights into the conditions under which youth of color charged with

different drug offenses are processed in juvenile court.

Keywords

race, ethnicity, drug offending, juvenile court outcomes, underclass poverty

The social control of youth, especially youth of color, has been a signif‌icant problem in the

juvenile justice system since the juvenile court’s creation in the early 1900s (Bishop, 2005;Leiber

& Fix, 2019;Peck, 2018). While the number of delinquency cases in juvenile court has decreased

for all racial/ethnic groups over the last 20 years, Black youth continue to be overrepresented in the

juvenile justice system compared to their representation in the general youth population

(Hockenberry & Puzzanchera, 2024). Research surrounding the link between race/ethnicity and

1

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jennifer H. Peck, Department of Criminal Justice; University of Central Florida, 12805 Pegasus Drive, Orlando, FL 32816,

USA.

Email: Jennifer.Peck@ucf.edu

juvenile court outcomes has suggested that the characteristics of communities may have an

important inf‌luence on the social control of youth, especially youth of color (Bridges et al., 1995;

Rodriguez, 2010;Zane et al., 2020). A multi-level interpretation of Sampson and Laub’s (1993)

macrolevel theory of inequality and social control may be useful in explaining the nuances of

juvenile court processing. A main proposition is that communities characterized by underclass

poverty and racial inequality will impose greater social control on youth referred to the juvenile

court. This is especially true for Black adolescents and youth charged with a drug offense because

they are perceived as a threatening population to middle-class values and standards.

Building on Sampson and Laub’s (1993) f‌indings about the increased social control of Black

youth and those charged with drug offenses, there is the potential to explore the lasting impact of

the War on Drugs in the juvenile justice system. Specif‌ically,it may be that the poli tical or cultural

inf‌luence of the Drug War’s symbolic threat remains embedded in juvenile court processing more

than 30 years after the enactment of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act and related legislation.

Research has found that since the enactment of the War on Drugs, “the annual number of drug

arrests in the USA remains near its peak, a f‌inding that strongly suggests that the war wages on and

perhaps has become institutionalized”(Mitchell & Caudy, 2015, p. 290). This statement suggests

that racial disparities in juvenile court outcomes may still occur based on the sustained high rate of

drug arrests in the United States, yet has not been a primary inquiry of study. For example, prior

studies on juvenile court outcomes incorporated drug offending solely as a control variable

(Andersen, 2015;Maroun, 2019) or did not include this offense within sample characteristics

(Andersen & Ouellette, 2019;Lowery et al., 2018).

Furthermore, Sampson and Laub’s (1993) perspective implies that youth charged with a drug

offense, primarily youth who are Black, are treated differently across juvenile court outcomes

compared to other types of youth. Generalizing this f‌inding, however, may mask potential

differences in the treatment of youth charged with different types of drug offenses. Although

Sampson and Laub (1993) did not theoretically distinguish between different forms of drug

offenses, the imagery and stereotype of a “dangerous drug offender”may differ depending on

certain legal and extralegal characteristics of an individual (see Leiber et al., 2017;Steen et al.,

2005). The social control of youth charged with a drug offense may be conditioned by aspects such

as race/ethnicity, type of drug offense (possession vs. distribution), and community factors.

Specif‌ically, prior research has found that adults charged with drug distribution offenses have been

perceived by court actors as “immoral”,“not nice people”,“predatory”, and due to their “moral

system”, are a danger to their community (Steen et al., 2005, p. 443). Adults involved in drug

possession (identif‌ied as drug “users”) were described as victims. Compared to youth charged with

drug possession, youth charged with a drug distribution offense may be perceived as a greater

societal threat, associated with gangs, or involved in other criminal enterprises. This viewpoint

may be exacerbated for youth who reside in under-resourced communities due to the historical

ramif‌ications of long-term stigmatization and marginalization.

Therefore, multi-level interpretations of the ma crolevel theory of inequality and social c ontrol

(Sampson & Laub, 1993) could be a framework to explain the presence of disadvantaged court

outcomes for youth, especially youth of color and those charged with different forms of drug of-

fending, depending on the characteristics of co mmunities. In turn, the present study: (1) investigates

how youth of color (i.e., Black and Hispanic) who are charged with drug possession or distribution

offense are treated in juvenilecourt proceedings, and (2) examines the potential conditioning effects

of underclass povertyand racial/ethnic inequality on anyracial/ethnic and drugoffense relationships.

It may be thatyouth referred to thejuvenile court for a drugoffense is still considered a “threatening”

type of individual even after the height ofthe War on Drugs, andthis f‌inding may be especially true

for Blackand Hispanic youth chargedwith drug distribution. The resultshave the potential to provide

greater contextualization and insightinto the circumstances surrounding juvenile justice processing.

4Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 23(1)