The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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in interacting with youth. The extent to which punishment should prevail as a goal,
however, is somewhat distributed across the responses. Of the goals, a strong emphasis
appears to be on rehabilitation and the protection of society. In responding to both
questions, 14 of 17 persons answered that the individual goals are very important (Table
2, 3).
Although the protection of society and the rehabilitation of youth are important,
decision makers do not see the juvenile court as too lenient, or that youth who commit
violent crimes should be waived to adult court. Underlying this view, appears to be the
belief that youth should be dealt with in a stern manner within the juvenile justice system.
This feeling is illustrated by the findings that personnel felt delinquents must be dealt
with strictly (76 percent answered strongly agree/agree) and held accountable for his or
her actions (100 percent strongly agree/agree). There is also a strong emphasis on early
intervention and a lot of intervention. Thus, a blend of rehabilitation (parens patriae) and
adherence to the protection of individual and societal rights appears to exist in the
juvenile court in Black Hawk county.
This rehabilitation/legalistic orientation reflects a view of delinquency that rests
with the perception that this kind of behavior is caused by an inability to control impulses
(100 percent responded very to somewhat important), a decision to commit crime,
negative school performance, and a lack of positive ways to interact with others (Table 4,
5). A number of other