Shaun Gann published an article in the Oct. 23 issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.
“Examining the Relationship Between Race and Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Counterfactual Approach” addressed two limitations often found in prior Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) research:
1) a focus on a single court and/or a single stage of the juvenile court process; and 2) methodological problems in comparing youth of different races.
Nearest neighbor matching was used to examine the relationship between race and five juvenile court outcomes in a sample of more than 50,000 youth referred to seven juvenile courts. Results indicated that non-white youth were significantly more likely than white youth to be detained prior to adjudication, placed in a secure confinement facility after adjudication and waived to criminal court.