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An Analysis Of The Impact Of Race, Socioeconomic Status And Gender On Juvenile Justice Case Processing In A Southeastern C-Level Metropolitan Area, Melanie Wynell Smith

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The goal of this research was to evaluate intake, adjudication and disposition of juvenile court cases to determine the extent to which outcomes are influenced by the race, socioeconomic status and gender of the referred youth. Three causal models were developed which incorporated the hypothesized relationships in both consensus and conflict paradigms. Zero-order correlations and path analysis were employed for quantitative analysis. Additionally, court services unit personnel were surveyed to determine the extent to which quantitative results were reasonable and reflective of their experience in the court system under study.

Path analysis and qualitative survey results indicate that the effect …