The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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Scott County: At the stage of petition, blacks were less likely than whites to be
petitioned. Black youth were also less likely to receive a consent decree or a formal
adjustment than whites. Last, females were more likely than males to receive a change of
placement at the stage of judicial disposition.
Reanalysis of Decision Making at Judicial Disposition
The federal mandate proposed by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention stipulates that inquires should be made to determine whether minority youth
are disproportionately overrepresented in secure facilities. The operationalization of the
stage of judicial disposition in the first phase of the study included youth sent to the state
training school, residential treatment, waivers to adult court etc. To meet the stipulation,
judicial disposition was redefined here to include only those youth placed in secure
facilities or transferred to the custody of the state training school versus youth who
received community-based treatment. Youth brought to adult waiver proceedings were
dropped from the analysis (n=680). In addition, the race variable consisted of whites
versus minorities (e.g., Blacks, Hispanics, Native American Indians, Asians). An
additional variable was included to control for crimes against property versus persons
(cseri). The results are presented in Table 3.
Minority youth are more likely than white youth to receive a disposition involving
the state training school. As presented in Table 3, there are no race/county interaction
differences to