Risk assessment as a mechanism for reducing differential treatment of minorities by a juvenile justice system

Abstract

Disparities in treatment of African American juvenile offenders persist in juvenile justice systems across the United States. This study examined adjudication trends over a ten-year span within a Mid-Western County’s juvenile court for African American young offenders subsequent of the system’s implementation of the Risk Need Responsivity Model (RNR-Model). Special attention was given to changes in disproportionate minority contact with intensive interventions within the Delinquency Division versus informal probation, which is considered a low intensity and less punitive adjudication path. The findings indicated African Americans were more likely to be referred to low intensity interventions at Intake (Informal Probation) after the RNR Model was implemented, suggesting disparities in contact were partially mitigated by the risk assessment approach. Implications for policy are discussed.

Keywords:

• Juveniles
• race
• recidivism
• risk assessment

Notes on contributors

Dr. Eyitayo Onifade is the Director of the Whitney M. Young, Jr., School of Social Work Center for Children and Families at Clark Atlanta University. His primary line of research is juvenile justice reform.

Dr. Ashlee Barnes is an Assistant Professor in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Barnes areas of research include offender rehabilitation and designing interventions that mitigate racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system.

Dr. Christina Campbell is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. Her primary research interests include delinquency prevention, risk assessment and juvenile justice.

Ms. Amber Mandalari is a doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati, studying correctional programming, rehabilitation and juvenile offending.