A comparison of juvenile court outcomes for Native Americans, African Americans, and whites

Abstract

Referrals to a district juvenile court in Iowa were examined for 1980 through 1989 to test an interpretation of Weber's theory of decision making and formal rationality. Logistic regression was employed to examine two hypotheses: 1) Native American youths and African American youths receive more severe outcomes than white youths with similar backgrounds and legal histories, and 2) Native Americans are at a greater disadvantage in general than African Americans. The findings show that youths of both minority groups receive different treatment from white youths. Although the race effects varied with the stage assessed in the proceedings, it was found that Native American youths were more likely to receive less severe outcomes than African American youths. Interviews with juvenile court decision makers were used to help explain the observed patterns.

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