The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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more diversified personnel to alleviate the disproportionate number of minorities in
secure facilities.
Perceived Role of the Court and Views of the System
Rehabilitation and Protection of Society
In Woodbury county, juvenile justice decision makers appear to place much
emphasis on rehabilitation and the protection of society (Tables 2, 3). In responding to
questions of the importance of these roles, a vast majority indicated that they were very to
pretty important. As in Black Hawk county, the delivery of punishment was seen as less
important relative to the other roles.
A variety of factors are believed to be causes of delinquency (Tables 4, 5). The
lack of parental supervision and discipline were by far believed to be the strongest factors
associated with the likelihood of delinquent behavior (91 percent). The decision to
commit crime, an inability to control impulses, delinquent siblings, substance abuse,
negative school performance and violence as a means to solve things are just some of the
other conditions believed to lead to criminal involvement. Interestingly, media
advertising of material possessions and the portrayal of violent destructive media images
were also cited as having varying degrees of importance. Only thirteen percent of the
decision makers felt that media images of violence was not too important or not
important at all. This is in contrast to Black Hawk county, where 35 percent indicated
that this was not too important as a cause of delinquency.