The processing of juvenile delinquents: A societal reaction approach

In 1983, 6,153 adolescents received dispositions from the juvenile and the county courts in the state of Nebraska. The objective of this dissertation was to ascertain through empirical research what the most important determinants of the dispositions were. Four extra-legal variables, race, sex, socioeconomic status, and type of counsel, were specified as predictors of severity of dispositions along with three legal predictor variables, type of court, prior court referrals, and severity of offense. Data for the dissertation were acquired, with permission, through the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. The methodology employed in this dissertation was, therefore, secondary analysis. Multiple classification analysis was the statistical technique used to test all hypotheses. The theoretical orientation placed under scientific examination was the societal reaction perspective, which in this research was an integration of leading assumptions from labeling theory and critical sociology. Seven major analyses of the effects of the predictor variables on severity of dispositions were performed. The first analysis was in relationship to the entire sample, with the remaining analyses undertaken within categories of sex and race. It was found that socioeconomic status, type of counsel, and type of court had the most consistent and powerful effects throughout the dissertation. The other independent variables were effective predictors in given instances, and sex was found to be a relatively ineffective predictor of the severity of dispositions. The societal reaction theory received varying amounts of support contingent upon the model under analysis, but as a general rule was supported in this dissertation