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Article
Predicting Secure Detention Placement for African-American Juvenile Offenders: Addressing the Disproportionate Minority Confinement Problem
Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice
  • Christopher A Mallett, Cleveland State University
  • Patricia A Stoddard Dare, Cleveland State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2010
Keywords
  • African America,
  • disproportionate minority incarceration,
  • juvenile offenders,
  • risk assessment,
  • secure detention
Abstract

Disproportionate minority contact and confinement (DMC) are significant problems within the juvenile justice system in the United States. Minority youth are more often arrested, court referred, placed in locked facilities, and transferred to adult criminal courts. In fact, African American youth are 6 times more likely than White youth to experience a secure facility placement. Standardized risk assessments have been used, in part, to reduce these biased placement outcomes. The purpose of this article is to determine if DMC impacts secure detention placement even when a standardized risk assessment is used to determine youths' risks and needs in 1 Midwest county's juvenile court population over a 17-month time frame. Multivariate binary logistic regression results indicated and confirmed that African American youth were 2 times more likely to receive secure detention center placement than non-African American youth even when a standardized risk assessment was used. Practical applications and recommendations are set forth.

DOI
10.1080/15377931003761011
Citation Information
Christopher A Mallett and Patricia A Stoddard Dare. "Predicting Secure Detention Placement for African-American Juvenile Offenders: Addressing the Disproportionate Minority Confinement Problem" Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice Vol. 8 Iss. 2 (2010) p. 91 - 103
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/christopher_mallett/8/