Contingencies for Dispositional Disparities in Juvenile Justice

Studies of juvenile court processing are reviewed and found generally to contradict a discrimination argument. Nevertheless, enough evidence of disparity exists to justify a search for contingencies under which discrimination is more or less likely to occur. The literature yields five contingent hypotheses which we test using data from 31 counties in Florida. The results suggest that differential sanctioning is not a pervasive phenomenon but rather that it is contingent on whether the individual is a member of an aggregate which poses a threat to elites. But it appears that the relevant threats are not strictly political but are mostly of a symbolic, social-psychological nature wherein white adults react to resented youthful traits often stereotypically associated with nonwhites. The results suggest that theoretical development about differential sanctioning will require deemphasis on the ability of individuals to resist power and a strengthened focus on the contingencies under which power is wielded. A strong interest in disparities in criminal justice processing among those with differential power or resources has been present in sociology for the past two decades (Hawkins 1987; Myers 1987). One manifestation of this interest is the extensive empirical literature concerning juvenile justice processing (Liska and Tausig 1979; Smith, Black & Weir 1980) which includes at least 35 studies since 1967 about juvenile court dispositions alone. Much of the research on criminal justice processing has been undertaken within the framework of either labeling or conflict theory (Myers 1987). Both approaches are concerned with the exercise of power and with *We acknowledge helpful comments by Elton E Jackson and Raymond Paternoster as well as the cooperation of the office of the Florida Attorney General headed by Mr. Jim Smith. Direct correspondence to Charles R. Tittle, Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4020. ? 1988 The University of North Carolina Press