The Attributional Contexts of Juvenile Court Outcomes: Examining the Effects of Race and Community.

• In Event: Race, Ethnicity and Juvenile Punishment Outcomes

Abstract

Much prior research has substantiated the role of internal and external attributes in juvenile court decision making. However, little research examines how certain aspects (external attributes) of community context (e.g., the percentage of single mothers in a community) work in conjunction with internal attributes (whether ascribed or achieved) to influence sentencing outcomes. Moreover, little research has applied this framework to serious and violent juvenile offenders. Using quantitative data from one states' juvenile court data, supplemented with American Community Survey data, this study draws upon attribution theory to explore how internal (e.g., no priors, race) and external (e.g., violent crime rate, percent single mothers) affect placement decisions.

Author

• Patrick Lowery, Virginia Commonwealth University