Purpose: Interpretations of focal concerns and “loose coupling” are used to explain juvenile diversion decisions by police and prosecutors from a large metropolitan county in the Midwest. Methods: Juveniles eligible for police diversion are compared to those actually diverted using a population of juveniles arrested in eight police urban and suburban agencies. Multinomial logistic regression is used to analyze data on juveniles referred for charging in the same county. Results: Non-White juveniles were significantly less likely to be diverted by police, formally entering them into the juvenile justice system earlier than their White counterparts. Prosecutors charged, rather than diverted, non-White juveniles significantly more frequently than White juveniles, particularly for theft cases. Conclusion: The racial disparity observed may result from differing focal concerns and loose coupling in the first stages of the justice system.
Language: en
", language="en", issn="2153-3687", doi="10.1177/2153368715594848", url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2153368715594848" }