Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2017
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511882645502143 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin15118826455021432021-08-03T07:04:45Z Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods Gann, Shaun M. Criminology Juvenile Court Decision-Making Treatment Effect Estimators Disproportionate Minority Contact Juvenile Justice Logistic Regression Race Prior research has found that disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is a problem at various decision-making points in the juvenile justice system. Some have argued that this is the result of discriminatory decisions by system actors, while others assert that it is due to legally relevant factors (e.g., differences in offense seriousness). A major challenge in assessing the relationship between race and juvenile justice outcomes is the difficulty in comparing similarly-situated youth from different racial groups.This dissertation addresses two limitations often found in prior DMC research. First, the majority of prior DMC studies have focused on a single juvenile court and/or a single stage of the court process. Due to the interconnectedness among court outcomes and the variation in decision-making processes across juvenile courts, these studies may under- or overestimate any possible effects of race on decision-making. As such, this dissertation uses a sample of over 50,000 youth referred to seven juvenile courts in Ohio to examine the relationship between race and five juvenile court outcomes: preadjudication detention, case dismissal, adjudication, secure confinement, and waiver to criminal court. Second, to obtain a true depiction of DMC, research must examine White and Non-White youth who are as similarly-situated as possible in all attributes except race. Unfortunately, the statistical analysis most often used to achieve this—multivariate logistic regression—may not be the most effective method to study DMC due to a number of potential limitations. As such, this dissertation compares the strengths and weaknesses of logistic regression and four counterfactual techniques in examining the relationship between race and juvenile court outcomes. The counterfactual methods used in this study are nearest neighbor matching, regression adjustment, inverse-probability weighting, and inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment.Results from all five statistical techniques indicated that Non-White youth were significantly more likely than White youth to be detained prior to adjudication, placed in a secure confinement facility post-adjudication, and waived to criminal court. Results were mixed, however, regarding the case dismissal and adjudication outcomes. Two of the five methods indicated that Non-White youth were more likely to have their case dismissed and less likely to be adjudicated delinquent, while the other three methods produced nonsignificant results for these outcomes. Based on the findings—as well as available post-analysis diagnostics, covariate balance, and the fit between the data and the various methodologies—this study posits that nearest neighbor matching with exact matching is the best-equipped statistical technique to produce accurate estimates of the presence and extent of DMC in the juvenile justice system. 2017 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511882645502143 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511882645502143 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Criminology Juvenile Court Decision-Making Treatment Effect Estimators Disproportionate Minority Contact Juvenile Justice Logistic Regression Race |
| spellingShingle |
Criminology Juvenile Court Decision-Making Treatment Effect Estimators Disproportionate Minority Contact Juvenile Justice Logistic Regression Race Gann, Shaun M. Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| author |
Gann, Shaun M. |
| author_facet |
Gann, Shaun M. |
| author_sort |
Gann, Shaun M. |
| title |
Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| title_short |
Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| title_full |
Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| title_fullStr |
Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating the Effect of Race on Juvenile Court Decision-Making: A Comparison of Methods |
| title_sort |
estimating the effect of race on juvenile court decision-making: a comparison of methods |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511882645502143 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT gannshaunm estimatingtheeffectofraceonjuvenilecourtdecisionmakingacomparisonofmethods |
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1719453229031358464 |