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Browsing by Subject "sentencing"

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    Prevalence of Youth with Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System
    (2017-06) Kincaid, Aleksis
    The U.S. juvenile justice system disproportionately incarcerates minority youth, youth from impoverished backgrounds, and youth with disabilities (YD). Youth who are involved with the juvenile justice system have a decreased chance of completing high school, lower work participation and earning rates, and are more likely to commit offenses as adults than peers who were not involved in juvenile justice. There is some evidence that these outcomes are magnified for YD. This project investigated whether YD were more likely to: end up in court, commit different offenses, and receive harsher sentences than youth without disabilities. In Study 1, extant datasets of administrative educational and court records were linked to investigate the prevalence of youth with disabilities in the juvenile court system, types of offenses committed, and county attorney’s choice of degree of referral. Study 1 found that YD were overrepresented in the juvenile court system, but that when disability was categorized as a dichotomous variable, the finding was not robust to sex, race/ethnicity, and free or reduced-priced lunch (FRL status). When disability categories were disaggregated, youth with EBD, OHI, and SLD were overrepresented in the juvenile courts, while youth with ASD, DCD, physical or sensory impairments, and SLI were underrepresented. In addition, save for drug law violations, YD were more likely to be referred for non-status offenses (e.g., crimes against persons, property, public order) than their peers. Lastly, youth with disabilities as a group were referred to court with a higher degree of severity than their peers, a trend that held across most disability categories, and though attenuated, remained when the type of offense was included. Study 2 investigated the likelihood that YD would be convicted delinquent and whether they were incarcerated for longer periods of time than youth without disabilities. YD received delinquency convictions at rates similar to their peers. In contrast to previous literature, YD were not incarcerated for greater lengths of time than their peers. These studies elucidate the relationship between youth with various disabilities and involvement in the juvenile justice system, an important first step in determining both risk and resiliency factors. Research implications are discussed.