What Context Matters and at What Level? A Test of Racial/Ethnic Threat, Symbolic Threat, and Structural Inequality Perspectives in Juvenile Court Decision-Making

Do traditional theories of conflict influence juvenile court decision-making and explain racial/ethnic disparities? Racial/ethnic threat, symbolic threat, and structural inequality perspectives purport social controls increase when groups differ in race, ethnicity, or class. Scholarship tends to tes...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Leiber, Michael J. (Author) ; Lu, Yunmei (Author) ; Donnelly, Ellen A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: Crime & delinquency
Year: 2021, Volume: 67, Issue: 2, Pages: 234-261
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Context
Inequality
juvenile justice
Minorities
Racial threat
Description
Summary:Do traditional theories of conflict influence juvenile court decision-making and explain racial/ethnic disparities? Racial/ethnic threat, symbolic threat, and structural inequality perspectives purport social controls increase when groups differ in race, ethnicity, or class. Scholarship tends to test one perspective at a time and use county as a unit of analysis. Taking a comparative approach, this study evaluates whether contextual indicators of these three theories, measured at the county- and zip code-levels, contribute to Black-White and Latino-White disparities in court decisions. Multilevel models reveal weak and partial support for each perspective. More effects appear at the zip code-level, indicating conflict may occur within rather than across courts. Macro-level theories must then be reconsidered to describe modern-day juvenile court proceedings.
ISSN:1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/0011128720938344