The Screening of Juvenile Offenders

Robert M. Terry
1967 The Journal of Criminal Law Criminology and Police Science  
Within the context of current social-psychological thinking concerning variations in the societal reaction to deviant behavior, this article is an attempt to specify the criteria utilized by control agencies in the sanctioning of juvenile offenders. A series of hypotheses are tested at each of three stages at which sanctions are accorded: the police, the probation department, and the juvenile court. Generally, legalistic types of variables were found to be most significant while such variables
more » ... s ethnicity, socio-economic status, and area of residence were relatively unimportant. These findings have relevance for clarifying some of the problems of measuring delinquent behavior, assessing the functioning of control agencies, and developing more effective bases for making dispositions of juvenile offenderq.
doi:10.2307/1140834 fatcat:igimjeuufjcibivwyqjqprz2yu