Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education

Advisor

James Nardozzi

Committee Member

Frank Colaprete

Committee Member

James Pann

Keywords

detainment, disparity, secure

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to explore the factors that contributed to juvenile crime which in turn caused disparity in secure detainment among juveniles. This was based upon the alternate hypothesis that there is a noticeable disparity with minority youths being more securely detained opposed to majority youths. Therefore, the research was designed to examine raw data obtained from the Juvenile Justice Services Planner/JDAI Coordinator of the excel database of juvenile arrests/detainment.

The findings revealed several key points. The finding revealed that useable data extracted from the excel database was not able to neither agree with nor support the hypothesis. The research conducted in regard to minority youths being held or securely detained longer than majority youths was not proven. The research had shown that African-American youths tended to be detained longer than white youths by the Greece Police Department; however, white juveniles had a higher percentage of detainment by the Irondequoit Police Department as well as the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

Several conclusions were drawn from the culmination of the research as follows: There was no pattern of detainment of the youths. The Rochester Police Department, who patrols and secures the City of Rochester, which is predominantly African-American, detained over 65% of African-American juveniles. Across all three years of data that was used, only 21% of the youth’s detained by any of the various police department were females.

The recommendations that the research supported are that more research is necessary to address the difference between police departments and what factors determine if a juvenile is to be detained. Research should also be conducted to examine whether the Risk Assessment Instrument is being filled out completely and correctly to determine the age, location, race and gender of youths being detained so there is a starting point to address juvenile crime in these areas.

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