School-Based Referrals to the Juvenile Court: Prevalence and Characteristics in Several States

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Social Policy Considerations for the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Abstract

In 2011, approximately 1.2 million delinquency cases were referred to the juvenile courts in the United States. Preliminary evidence suggests that an increasing number of these referrals have originated in the schools. This paper reports an investigation of school-based referrals to the juvenile courts as an element of the School-to-Prison Pipeline (StPP). The study examined likelihood of school-based juvenile court referrals (SBJCRs) and rate of dismissal of these referrals in several states using data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archives. In addition, the study examined race and special education status as predictors of SBJCRs for either subgroup. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression and odds ratio, were used to analyze the data and make conclusions based on the findings.

Authors

• Pamela Cichon Wruble, Loyola University Maryland

• Peter Leone, University of Maryland