Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Police Handling of Juvenile Arrests

This report analyzes the research on racial and ethnic disparities in the police handling of juvenile arrests, focusing on a study utilizing data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The study explores the overrepresentation of minority youth in the juvenile justice system, examining the effects of race and ethnicity on post-arrest handling of juvenile cases. The report delves into the methodology, including the use of multilevel analyses and the examination of contextual factors. Key findings reveal that disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is linked to the severity of charges, with Hispanic and minority youth facing less severe charges being more likely to be referred to authorities. The report also discusses the limitations of the study, such as the lack of focus on specific communities, and the implications of the findings, emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of police behaviors and agency processes that contribute to DMC, and how this impacts the juvenile justice system.

Running head: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Police Handling of Juvenile Arrests
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Police Handling of Juvenile Arrests
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1Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Police Handling of Juvenile Arrests
Introduction:
The racial and ethnic minority in the juvenile justice is an eminent social issue. The
recent study by National Incident Based Reporting System has incurred upon the fact and the
data that have been produced on the post arrest of the juvenile cases by the police have been
increased systematically over the past few years. According to a recent study, the youth
section of the society belonging to the minority section of the society are increasingly
outnumbering the juvenile crime rates performed by the youth section belonging to the
majority of the society. The issue has not only become the concern for the police officers
handling the cases, but at the same time it has become one of the major concerning factor for
the social thinkers and the social activists. The activists have come up with various
explanations to fit the current data. The most important of them are the discrepancies in the
jurisdictional policies, and certain police practices and certain equality and minority treatment
by the police have aggravated the situation in the country. According to a current study the
Black youth of United States represent 14% of the total population in the country, however,
36% of the black youth contribute in the juvenile crime reports (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon,
2018). According to the social activists, the relation between race, ethnicity and the juvenile
justice system is very complex and this relationship can vary from extra- legal, incident
based, across age and gender, may depend upon the neighborhood contexts, and also upon the
contextual factors (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018). Also, the lack of samples, posited
geographically, act as limiting factor for the describing or incurring upon the reasons for or
impacts of disproportionate minority contact.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand, integrate and extend the research
based on the disproportionate minority contact, in the juvenile justice system. The following
study has especially focused on the NIBRS data on the impacts of race and ethnicity, and also

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on the contextual factors of the post arrest scenarios as handled by the police. The study will
hypothesize that the crime rates done by the Black and the Hispanic youth are more likely to
be referred as juvenile crime justice system as compared with the crime rate done by the
White and Non- Hispanic youth.
To conduct the study, the theories related to the Juvenile Justice system and the
disproportionate minority contact will be analyzed and at the same time a study will be
conducted to understand the impact of the disproportionate minority contact.
Literature:
Thee literature refers to the plethora of research work made on the task. It is found,
there are two theoretical frameworks that have been developed upon the disproportionate
minority contact. Firstly, as per the differential involvement hypothesis, the disproportionate
minority contact is primarily attributed to the involvement of the minority youth into the
criminal activities and offenses. It is often seen that the low socio- economic status of the
people and the poor educational attainment, the lack of employment and the abandoned
neighborhood are the most common factors, enlisted as the reasons that contribute as the
prime factors of increased reasons for crime rates (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018).
Therefore, the studies have propounded that the reduction or the elimination of such factors
will decrease the juvenile crime rates in the society. Therefore, as according to the differential
involvement hypothesis, the contextual and the extralegal attributes may contribute in
reducing the ethnic and racial disparities as perceived in the justice processing.
Another theory, the Comprehensive Reviews, propound different reviews of literature.
The comprehensive reviews, that has its roots in the social conflict theories, states that the
contextual factors alone, do not contribute in the disparities, rather the social identities, the
social stereotypes, and the differences in the social selection process, all contribute in the

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disproportionate contact of minorities in the justice system. This particular approach also
takes into account the symbolic threat theory, stating that, the social perceptions and
attributions, also play a huge role for the minority youth and the youth of color to involve in
criminal activities and delinquency. These aspects have further been evidenced by the cross
sectional; studies, that have been executed over the years. The studies have proved that the
disparity in the social treatment policies have contributed in the character flaws of the youth
belonging to the minority section of the society, and therefore, have been further contributed
in their delinquent activities (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018). Therefore, as can be seen
that both of these hypotheses or theories have created the backdrop for the disproportionate
minorities contact, and have propounded almost the same literature, that it is the contextual
and social attributes that have resulted into the racial and ethnic juvenile justice system.
Methods and Sample:
The research had been primarily conducted from a qualitative point of view. The
research has been developed upon the National Incident Based Reporting System data and the
data of the American Community Survey. The National Incident Based Reporting System has
a data base recorded of more than 25 years. It presents the data in a very structured,
comprehensive and systematic manner, including data of all aspects, for example, the data is
consisted of offenders, incidents, victims, arrestees and the types of crime included illegal
guns, parricide, crimes against children and women, sexual assault, rape, cyberbullying and
the like (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018). The information also varied from race to gender
to ethnicity. The data also included the official data, that are, the reported data and the
unofficial data, that are, the data recorded informally. The American Community Survey
have presented a data that included a detailed information of the population, characteristics of
the community and the housing characteristics of the entire population (Claus, Vidal, and

4Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Police Handling of Juvenile Arrests
Harmon, 2018). The data provided by the American Community Survey also presented the
data in a hierarchical manner.
Therefore, since the data that had been analyzed, is a secondary content, therefore, the
data held the information regarding the arrestees from the 14 states, that had provided their
data, and these states include, Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia,
Michigan, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Iowa and
Idaho, and the permission for conducting the study had been granted by the Westat
Institutional Review Board (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018). To analyze the data a
quantitative approach had been included, including statistical methods of analysis. The
independent variable included, juvenile race and ethnicity and the dependent variable
included the disposition if juvenile arrestees and the contextual variable included the 5- year
ACS estimates.
Findings:
To analyze the data a descriptive and bivariate analysis method had been followed
and the assessment was developed around the disparity in the juvenile crime rates, the racial
and the ethnic factors on the disproportionate minority contact and the multilevel modelling
was used to avoid the random error terms (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018).
The findings dawned upon the facts that the disproportionate minority contact was
related to the type and the severity of the charges that the juveniles had faced. It also
propounded that the early experience of getting arrested is a contributing factor to have
increased the rates and the tendency of further involvement into the delinquent activities. The
study has also pointed out that the extralegal and the contextual factors have potential
contribution in the increase of the crime rates. The social identity and the ill treatments faced
by the youth of color have also proved to be contributing factors in the aggravation of

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juvenile crime rates. The ethnic disparities and the social disparities have also contributed
into the same (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018). Also, it is also seen that the
disproportionate minority contact varies across countries, and the most interesting factor is
that the areas which are less developed, are not faced with much delinquencies, rather the
advanced areas are more prone to juvenile crimes. The study has also propounded that the
law enforcement policies do not include the minority girls into the juvenile justice system.
Limitations:
Since the study has tried to provide a holistic approach of the diversified socio-
economic status, therefore, a single community or state has lacked the focus. However, the
incorporation if the multilevel ACS data have helped the study to assess the country- based
correlates in area disposition (Claus, Vidal, and Harmon, 2018).
Conclusion and Implication:
The findings have shown how the racial and ethnic disparities contribute in the
increasing rates of juvenile delinquencies. The study has also discussed the roles and effects
of the post arrest scenarios in the development and increase of the crime rates (Claus, Vidal,
and Harmon, 2018). However, since the study had included the data from the statistics of
NIBRS, therefore, the study had included a diversified socio- economic status. This had
affected the focus of the study. Also, the report has included the information of both the
urban and suburban areas, where the legal strictures vary greatly. Therefore, the study should
have focused only on the urban locales and provide a comparative analysis on that. Also, the
NIBRS data lacked the information on ethnicity, which could must have been included in the
study.

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References:
Claus, R.E., Vidal, S. and Harmon, M., 2018. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Police
Handling of Juvenile Arrests. Crime & Delinquency, 64(11), pp.1375-1393.