Jennifer Peck
Associate Professor, University Of Central Florida
Key Findings
- Juveniles had higher odds of receiving a court referral at intake if they were charged with a personal offense (15%), a sex offense (22%), a property offense (55%), or a drug offense (60%).
- The research models indicate that race did not impact intake outcomes across offense types.
- Looking at judicial disposition and factoring in morality offenses, Black juveniles had a 20% lower chance of being referred on for further court proceedings.
- Black and Hispanic juveniles did not experience severe outcomes at intake as the Symbolic Threat Perspective indicated, but they were more likely to receive judicial dispositions with out-of-home placements than their White counterparts.
- The results failed to find evidence that minority youth charged with moral offenses would receive greater social control in communities with more youth and higher numbers of Black and Hispanic residents.
Description
In the article, “Clarifying the Theoretical Tenets of the Symbolic Threat Perspective,” Peck and her co-author examine how community characteristics, race, and ethnicity, as well as the number and types of offenses, impact juvenile justice decision-making through the critical analysis of the Symbolic Threat Perspective. The Symbolic Threat Perspective is the theory that juveniles, especially minorities, whose offenses are perceived as “moral crimes” will experience harsher outcomes in counties with higher portions of non-White residents. The implications of this theory posit that the relationship between the offender, offense type, and community create negative perceptions of youth overall and more specifically towards minority youth. To conduct their study, the researchers analyzed 87,739 misdemeanor and felony delinquent referrals from a southern state from 2009 to 2010. The results found that juveniles had higher odds of receiving a court referral at intake if they were charged with a personal offense (15%), a sex offense (22%), property offense (55%), or drug offense (60%). Largely, the research models indicate that race did not impact intake outcomes across offense types. Looking at judicial disposition and factoring morality offenses, Black juveniles had a 20% lower chance of being referred on for further court proceedings. Black and Hispanic juveniles did not experience severe outcomes at intake as the Symbolic Threat Perspective indicated, but they were more likely to receive judicial dispositions with out-of-home placements than their White counterparts. Additionally, the results failed to find evidence that minority youth charged with moral offenses would receive greater social control in communities with more youth and higher numbers of Black and Hispanic residents. The authors concluded that further research into the Symbolic Threat Perspective framework is needed. They recommend refining the definition and measure of “threat” based on the changes in demographics as well as racial and ethnic relations. Finally, the authors recommend examining the attitudes of the key decision-makers to determine how their beliefs influence their verdicts.