The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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Prior record is a measure of the number of times a youth had past contact(s) with the
juvenile justice system. The variable is interval.
Past research has indicated that the disposition of the previous offense may have a
significant impact on the outcome of subsequent referrals (e.g., Sampson, 1986; Farrell
and Swigert, 1978). Therefore, a measure was constructed as an indicator of that variable.
Past disposition is defined as ‘0’ where a youth was adjudicated a delinquent or waived to
adult court and ‘1’ where the individual received an outcome other than those two
possibilities (e.g., release, an informal or formal adjustment).
Court Authority is a measure employed here to assess whether a youth may have
been under some kind of supervision when he/she was referred to the juvenile court.
Under court authority=0, no court authority=1.
The number of offenses a youth was charged with at the time of the referral was
also coded. This is an interval—level measure.
A measure of offense severity involves the scoring of the most serious offense
with which the youth was charged. The range of this variable was from 0 to 6, with the
latter representing the most serious felony offense.
Although detention status could not be included in the analyses as a dependent
variable, the independent effects were assessed and controlled for at various stages in the
proceedings. The independent variable is coded as detained=0, no detention=1.