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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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Leiber, Michael J. (Autor) ; Lu, Yunmei (Autor) ; Donnelly, Ellen A. (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
En: Crime & delinquency
Año: 2021, Volumen: 67, Número: 2, Páginas: 234-261
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Palabras clave:
Context
Inequality
juvenile justice
Minorities
Racial threat
Descripción
Sumario: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