Race, Gender, and the Prehearing

Detention of Juveniles
By: Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
Michelle Bolden

What does that mean?

Terms you might want to know

Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO)- requires that

offender and non-offender youth who are runaways, truants or
curfew violators cannot be detained in juvenile detention facilities
or adult jails.
Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC)- requires states to
address the issue of over-representation of youth of color in the
justice system.

The Purpose and Functions of Detention are

Changing
Court officers sometimes employ detention as a form of treatment.
Detention is used as a sanction to detain youth so they can learn a
lesson.
Detention was intended to be punitive, but also be a safe haven from
negative influence.
Changes in state laws convey legislative responses to heightened
public fear of juvenile crime.
Schall vs. Martin, the U.S Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality
of pretrial preventive detention for the sake of public safety.

Opportunities For Detention are Increasing

Minors are often detained in secure facilities (ex: police holding cells, lockups,
juvenile court detentions). There are fewer non-secure facilities (foster care,
group homes, supervision center) that are needed for status offenders and nonoffenders who need prehearing supervision or protection.
Secure settings are commonly used for Black and Latino youths, while nonsecure facilities are commonly used for white youths.
Administered prehearing custody is important. Juveniles have a high risk of
suicide and self-mutilation and are likely to be abused by others in custody and
by bad staff.

Unstructured Discretion Prevails in Juvenile

Justice
Many parents advise their children to waive their rights to counsel
and accept plea bargains.
Most juvenile cases are handled informally. Decisions are
sometimes made by police officers or by court officers without
consulting a judge.
Many officers lack the knowledge and qualifications required to
respond effectively to juveniles.

Race, Gender, and Detention

Offense Against
Persons

Detainment Against
Property Offenders

Black males consistently

had the highest
percentage of detention
followed by other nonwhite males.

Black males had the highest

detention rate.

Black females and white

males were detained at
the same proportions

White males, Black females,

and non-white females
shared third.

White females had the

lowest detainment.

White females were last

with detention rate.

Non-white males were the

second highest in detention
rate.

Drug Cases
Black males consistently
had the highest rate in
drug cases.
Followed by other nonwhite males.
White males had the
lowest in drug cases.

Race, Gender, and Detention

Race, Gender, and the Purpose of
Detention
Racial stereotypes hold that minorities are
more in need of detention.
Perceptions of African Americans are that they
are more violent, less controllable, come from
broken homes, and have less support than
whites.
Gender stereotypes take the form of shunning
girls because they are considered difficult to
work with.
Body cavity searches are often justified for
security reasons and sometimes to humiliate
the girl.

Race, Gender, and More

Opportunities for Detention
Detention was more likely to be for youths
who are black, rural, and females than for
those white, urban, and male.
Rural courts has caseloads of predominantly
minor offenses, where girls received more
restrictive interventions.
Higher number of youths are detained in urban
courts, both minorities and girls are
disadvantaged at detention by court
processing outside of cities.

Race, Gender, and Detention

Race, Gender, and Unstructured

Racial minorities, especially black males, are

Discretion
detained at higher rates than white youths.
Girls are at greater risk of having their parents
initiate the court referral and of having their
families refuse to allow them to return home.
Private legal counsel was retained 3x more
often by white youths than by black youth in
cases involving serious felony offenses against
persons and twice as frequently in property
offense cases.
Juvenile charged with a felony offense against
a person appearing in juvenile court for the
first time, more than twice as many blacks as
whites are detained, 52.8% vs. 24.1%

Race, Gender, and the

Consequences of Detention
Detention effect on placement for both girls
and boys. Not only was prehearing detention
the single best predictor of commitment but
also detained girls were 3x as likely as other
girls to be removed from their home.
Detention status made treatment 11x more
likely for girls and 6x more likely for boys.

Questions for Discussions

What is the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, and

what did it and its three reauthorizations do?
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 is a U.S federal law providing
funds to states that follow a series of federal protections on the care and treatment of
youth in the justice system.
1980: Weakened the requirements for states to receive federal funds by allowing
confinement of habitual runaways, juveniles who refuse court-ordered treatment, and
those who violate court orders.
1988: Added the fourth requirement, known as the DMC requirement, that states
investigation the disproportionate representation of minorities in confinement.
1992: States were given an opportunity to assess the adequacy of their services,
particularly for girls, and receive funding to initiate improvements through a new
challenge grant program. (Page 538)

Thus, what do these data show? What do Federele and ChesneyLind suggest about the DSO?
The data show that while the overall rate of detention has remained fairly stable at
about 1/5th of delinquency cases overall, it involved nearly on 1/3 rd of African American
males. When offense type was controlled, detention was always highest for African
American males. Sometimes gender differences seemed to prevail, such as among
property offenses, in which regardless of race, detention was higher among boys. Race
seemed more important for drug offenses and public order violations, with detention of
minority girls sometimes higher than that of white boys.
Federele and Chesney-Lind suggested that the DSO serves to keep white boys out of
detention, to lock girls in private mental health facilities, and to free bed space to
warehouse many more minority children all with the same types of behaviors (Page 542)

In what three ways have frustrated juvenile justice officials

circumvented the DSO?
One way involves reclassifying status offenses as minor crimes, as a means of
bootstrapping juveniles into detention.
Another way involves making a court order so strict and limiting that it is almost a
certainty that a non-offender will violate a court order citation.
Finally, involves essentially hiding the fact of a youths detention within a privately
operated facility. (Page 543)

What thwarts the purpose and function of detention, and what are
some predictions the author makes that are tied to that thwarting?
*Thwart- prevent someone from accomplishing something*

The purpose and function of detention is thwarted by stereotypical responses to youth of

color, particularly African Americans, and to girls. As authorities appear increasingly to
be using detention as a preventive measure, the situation is likely to worsen for
minorities, who are more often perceived as dangerous simply because of their color.

Reference
K. Kempf-Leonard. Race, Gender, and the Prehearing Detention of Juveniles.