Comparative Study of The Influence of Structural Variations on Juvenile Justice Processing

到目前为止，关于少年司法制度的研究大多数是 专注于个人层面的案件处理， 在特定的管辖范围内，可以用任何一种情况来解释， 或澄清剂特定的特性。 也许最常见的 主题强调了“法外”因素，如种族，社会 阶级和性别影响法院的裁决。 这一传统的 工作大大增加了我们对青少年的了解 公正和法院的运作。 然而， 必然不完整。 尽管有大量的研究， 少年司法处理的微观原因（即，法庭内 变异），很少有人研究其宏观 原因;也就是说，法院系统之间的差异， 由于他们所在社区的特点， 居住。 桑普森博士正在进行的研究代表了一个主要的 政府对未成年人的反应研究进展 从微观层面的关注转向宏观层面 研究环境和结构因素 影响少年法庭的运作。 具体而言是 研究提出了这样一个问题：社区的特征是如何， 特别是城市化、人口密度、异质性， 贫困的集中和法院的组织结构 影响转诊率、正式上访率、安全预审率 处置拘留、释放和安置。 这五 按犯罪类型分类的法院处理程序的各个方面， 年龄，种族和性别，将结合社会， 经济，人口和法院组织数据超过300 1985年和1990年的县。 稳定和变化， 将审查少年法庭的宏观结构背景，因为它们 与下层阶级和社会混乱的理论有关， 政治经济、冲突和社会控制。 通过严格 情境因素如何塑造少年法庭处理的分析 随着时间的推移，这项研究可能会产生 重要的新知识，将建立研究议程， 在未来的岁月里。

To date most of the research on the juvenile justice system has focused on individual-level case processing, examining variations within a given jurisdiction that could be explained by either case or defendant-specific characteristics. Probably the most common topic has emphasized how "extra-legal" factors such as race, social class, and gender influence court decisioning. This tradition of work has added substantially to our understanding of juvenile justice and the workings of the court. The picture, however, is necessarily incomplete. Despite the vast number of studies on the micro causes of juvenile justice processing (i.e., within court variation), there are few efforts that have examined its macro causes; that is, differences among court systems that can be attributed to the characteristics of the communities in which they reside. The study being undertaken by Dr. Sampson represents a major advance in current research on official reactions to juvenile delinquency by shifting from micro level concerns to macro level interests in examining how environmental and structural factors affect the operations of the juvenile courts. Specifically, the research asks the question: how do features of the community-- especially urbanization, population density, heterogeneity, concentration of poverty, and court-organizational structure-- influence rates of referral, formal petitioning, secure pre- disposition detention, release, and placement. These five dimensions of justice court processing, classified by crime type, age, race, and sex, will be analyzed in conjunction with social, economic, demographic, and court organizational data for over 300 counties in 1985 and 1990. Both stability and change in the macrostructural context of juvenile courts will be examined as they bear on theories of the underclass and social dislocations, political economy, conflict, and social control. Through rigorous analysis of how contextual factors shape juvenile court processing across jurisdictions and over time, this study is likely to produce important new knowledge that will establish the research agenda for years to come.