Racial Disparities in Juvenile Court Outcomes: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis

Abstract

After decades of research, the exact impact of race on juvenile court outcomes is still a complex matter. The focus of this study is to address the liberation hypothesis as a potential explanation for racial disparities in juvenile court outcomes. This perspective has not previously been applied to juvenile court outcomes. Results from the analyses demonstrate the differential effect of legal and extralegal factors on serious and less serious cases. The results of this study indicate that legal factors such as crime seriousness or prior criminal record and extralegal factors such as race have a varying influence on juvenile court outcomes, and this influence varies depending on the outcome examined and the race of the youth.