The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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interviewed. The distributions for the adult decision makers and youth who participated
in Phase Two are presented in Table 1, differentiated by county and race/ethnicity.
Questions Contained Within Surveys and Interviews
Decision makers were asked a variety of questions, each of which is believed to
be associated with decision making. A number of the closed ended questions focused on
views of the juvenile justice system, causes of delinquency, and race and gender
differences in crime, apprehension, and court processing. In the open ended questions,
each decision maker was allowed to elaborate on his/her responses. Individuals were also
asked for explanations concerning the findings from Phase One of the study and for their
opinions on to how to alleviate the disproportionate overrepresentation of minorities in
secure facilities.
Both of the instruments administered to the youth incorporated questions aimed at
tapping their ambitions and views on discrimination and fairness, in general. They were
also asked to comment on their perceptions of school, the police, probation officers, and
the juvenile justice system. Last, youth were asked who they blamed for their current
situation.
Organization of the Report
Chapters Three thru Ten present the results and interpretations of the responses from the
closed ended and open ended questions. A chapter on the adult decision makers for a