Inner-City Youth, the Police, the Juvenile Court, and Justice

Abstract

In spite of the fact that black first-offender deliquents present less intensive antisocial attitudes and behavior patterns than white delinquents, they receive more severe dispositions from the police of Easton than white delinquents accused of the same offense. As the anti-social characteristics of black and white delinquents intensify, the differences in disposition between the races tend to disappear. The Juvenile Court, however, displays little or no discrimination toward black delinquents in adjudicating juvenile cases.