Disproportionate Minority Contact in Juvenile Justice System

Statement of the Problem or Objective
Youth of color have been overrepresented in the American juvenile justice system. Youth of color are more often arrested, court referred, placed in lock facilities, and transferred to adult criminal courts. Analysts attribute the unique age- and race-specific crime pattern to the confluence of broader structural changes including the deindustrialization of cities, the racial concentration of poverty and single-parent households, and the inner-city crack cocaine epidemic. In turn, media depictions of gang and gun violence by minorities—‘‘if it bleeds, it leads’’—fanned public fears and provided political impetus to ‘‘criminalize’’ more youths and punish them as criminals and to adopt more-punitive juvenile justice policies. Despite the lack of standardization in data collection and analysis, 32 of the state jurisdictions studied reported that race=ethnicity effects existed independent of criminal record offense involvement, whereas 12 states attributed DMC solely to legal factors. The proposed study contribute to our understanding of crime and policy response to crime. Youth of color make up 78% of those in the juvenile justice system.

Literature Review & Theoretical Perspective
Mallett and Stoddard Stated that African American youths are 6 times more likely than white youths to experience facility placement. Vazsonyi and Chen stated that even though there are a lower percentage of juvenile offenders they still make up a large number in percentage in the juvenile justice system. McCarter stated that minorities on an average were at least 2-2.5 times their percentage of the at-risk youth population. Feyerherm (1995) summarized the complexity of studying disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system. He stated that complying with the OJJDP mandate and producing change could not “be met by the simple elimination of a type of treatment or confinement, nor one that for which success. One of the main findings from this body of research is that racial disparities that were present later in the system often resulted from decisions made during the early stages of case processing. , analyses of previous work have been undertaken to summarize the empirical research on minority representation in the juvenile justice system. Pope and Feyerherm (1995) reviewed publications regarding minority youth in the juvenile justice system from 1969 through 1989. They found racial effects generally present at some stages of processing but not others, although bias could occur at any stage of case processing. Bias can happen at any place in a research, so I have to make sure my research questions is not bias.

Research Questions
Do minority youth act badly (or commit crime) because of the “culture they live in” and the “people they associate with? Do youth commit crimes and get in trouble at school because it is what they see every day? Do minority youth appear to be growing up in a more permissive culture that does not characterize their illegal behaviors negatively? I hope to find that minority youth are disproportionately committing crimes and they are disproportionately being arrested and processed through the system. The purpose of my research is to get some type of explanation as to why minority youths disproportionately being arrested and processed through the system.

Subject for Study
I will study juvenile justice practitioners. Juvenile judges and magistrates, Juvenile prosecutors and public defenders, Juvenile probation and detention staff, Police and school resources officers, School personnel, Community service providers. I will get in touch with them by phone and face to face contact. I will need to seek approval from the Institutional Review Board because some of the people may not want to be in the study if I don’t.

Informed Consent To the Participant: The purpose of this study is to investigate disproportionate minority contact in Juvenile Justice System. Your part in the study will involve answering some questions that follow. In addition, you will be asked to answer some questions about yourself. There will be no risk involved. If you feel that this material may be too upsetting to you, please choose not to participate. Your participation in this study will help improve understanding about disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice system. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions if anything appears uncertain. All of your responses will be anonymous. This form is the only one that will have your name on it, and it will be separated from the rest of the packet once it is handed in. You are free to withdraw from this study at any time without consequences. Your cooperation is very much appreciated. After reading the above, I hereby voluntarily consent to participation in this study.

Print name: Signature: Date: Experimenter: If you have any questions about the study, please contact Experimenter In the Criminal Justice Department . If you have any questions regarding your rights as a subject in this study, please contact the Institutional Review Board at 201-692-2314.

South Carolina State University

V. Application/Protocol Form

All proposed research involving human subjects at South Carolina State University must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before beginning the study. It is the University’s policy that the principal investigators prepare and submit to the IRB an application (for review or exemption) and a protocol giving a complete description of the proposed research. In the application and protocol, the principal investigator(s) must make provisions for the adequate protection of the rights and welfare of prospective research subjects and insure that pertinent laws and regulations are observed. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator or faculty supervisor to initiate the process in a timely manner in order to receive approval to conduct the research.

Principal Investigator/DepartmentDave-Anthony Thompson | Address (include phone number) 1111 Bob St. 347-869-8733 | SupervisorMark Cooper | Address (include phone number)1225 Hicks Rd. 347-913-1523 | Co-Principal Investigator/DepartmentMitchell Pack | Address (include phone number)1192 Rod Ave. 347-810-1295 | Co-Principal Investigator/DepartmentRake Green | Address(include phone number)1690 McCray Ave. 347-229-1553 | Under Graduate Student N/A | Graduate Student Victor Green | Funding Agency/Type/Point of Contact | Project Period | Project Title: |

Type responses inside the boxes

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1. Describe the purpose/”rationale” of the research project:
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2. Describe the experimental procedures (include instruments to be used during the research, ie. Drugs, Devices, and etc):
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3. Describe in detail any biological materials that will be collected or dispensed during the research:

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5. Identify any risks to the human subjects: -------------------------------------------------
6. Identify methodology to be used to minimize the risks:

7. Describe the benefits to the subjects involved: -------------------------------------------------

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8. Describe the method of recruitment used for the Human Subjects participation:

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9. Describe the method of compensation, if any:

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10. Describe sensitive or confidentiality information to be obtained:

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11. Describe how you will protect confidentiality:

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12. Informed consent obtained and included in the application: Yes No X

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13. Have you completed the mandatory human protection training? Yes No X

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Project Title:

I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the research study described above is accurate. Further, I certify that I have read and understand the University’s policy regarding human subjects and intend to comply with it.

____________________________________________________ __________________________ Principal Investigator Date

I confirm that the research investigator has explained the purpose of the research and the expected duration of the subject participation in the project. Further, I understand the potential risks, and believe that reasonable safeguards have been taken to minimize both the known and unknown risks. _______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Department Chair/Dean Date IRB Member Comments:
IRB Member Comments:

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ IRB Member (Approval) Date

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ IRB Member (Disapproval) Date

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

VI. Informed Consent Form

This project involves research conducted at South Carolina State University, and has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which give permission to the research investigator to seek your participation in the study. It is the University’s policy that the principal investigator provides you with a detailed explanation of the purpose of the research and of the expected duration of your participation. In addition, the principal investigator must give you a description of the procedures to be followed and identify any procedures that are experimental. Please carefully read the explanation of the project outlined below, and feel free to ask the principal investigator any questions you may have regarding the research study. For more information, the address and telephone number of the principal investigator are shown this form below, or you may contact the Office of Sponsored Programs at (803) 536-8394.

If you decide to participate in this study, indicate by signing and dating this form below. The research investigator will show you where to sign the form and will give you a copy for your records.

Principal Investigator | Address (include phone number) | Project Title: |

Type responses inside the boxes (obtain the File from the OSP Web page)

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1. Purpose of Research or Study:

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2. Risk and/or Discomfort:

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3. Benefits:

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5. Confidentiality Protection:

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6. Expected duration of subject’s participation:

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7. Complete description of procedures to be followed:

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8. Identify experimental procedures, if applicable:

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9. Compensation and/or the availability of medical treatment if an injury occur:

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10. Compensation for participation, if applicable:

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11. Refusal or Withdrawal: Your participation in this project is voluntary, and refusal to participate in this study will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

I have fully explained, to the best of my ability, the research study described above to the subject and/or the legal representative of the subject, which included a detailed explanation of the purpose of the research and of the expected duration of the subject participation. In addition, I have provided the subject with a description of the procedures to be followed, and I have identified any procedures that are experimental.

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Principal Investigator Date

I fully understand that my participation in the research study described above is voluntary. I confirm that the research investigator has explained the purpose of the research and the expected duration of my participation in the project. Further, I understand the potential risks, and believe that reasonable safeguards have been taken to minimize both the known and unknown risks. Therefore, I give my consent to participate in the research study.

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Participant or Legal Representative Date

_______________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Witness Date

Measurement Ethnicity/Race Ethnicity will be defined through self-reported ethnic/racial identification by reports from either the youth respondents or their caretakers. The following groups will be the focus of the study: African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and European Americans (Whites). Other ethnic groups will not adequately represented in any of the samples to permit analyses. Hispanic identification will include various socio-cultural groups loosely termed Hispanic that vary by national origin. Contact, Arrest, Court Referral all have information about arrest (that includes officially recorded police contact) or police arrest/contact that resulted in court referral, or both. This information will provide an early point of contact with the juvenile justice system that was available across sites.

Data Collection Methods I will collect some of my data by doing a questionnaire, surveys, and I will reanalysis that was already done by others.

Analysis I will examine whether the observed disproportionate minority contact/arrest/referral could be explained by self-reported delinquency and/or explained by risk factors present in these youngsters’ lives, minority status, self-reported delinquency, and I will use a index of risk in a sequence of logistic regressions. The analyses will redicted arrest in a hierarchical fashion – first entering minority status, followed by a delinquency measure, and followed finally by the index indicating the number of risk factors facing an individual. If disproportionate arrest/referral rates could be explained by level of delinquency or by the risk factors, I will find it because at each step the effect of minority status in the models would be reduced and possibly will become non-significant. This strategy, the use of reduced-form equations, is a straight-forward and parsimonious way to address the research questions, and is the design followed in most of the literature examining such DMC issues. It has the advantage of indicating the effect of minority status on the probability of contact/referral and then examining whether this observed effect can be explained by level of involvement in delinquent behavior, by additional risk factors for contact/referral while controlling for level of delinquent behavior, or by their combination.