Abstract

This paper reports on a systematic review and meta-analysis of disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system. A total of 79 independent samples were analyzed from the 67 studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analyses. Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the overall effects of race/ethnicity at the six major decision points in the juvenile justice system: detention, intake, petition, waiver, adjudication, and placement. Moderator analyses were also performed to explore heterogeneity of effects by study design features. Findings indicated small average effects for some outcomes (e.g., detention) and no discernible average effect on others (e.g., petition, waiver, adjudication). There was also substantial heterogeneity across studies, although moderator analyses did not detect any clear patterns. The findings suggest that future research must focus on the specific outcomes in which disparities occur, as well as their practical significance given small effect sizes.

摘要

本文报告了对少年司法系统中不成比例的少数族裔接触的系统回顾和元分析。从符合纳入荟萃分析标准的 67 项研究中，共分析了 79 个独立样本。元分析技术被用于检查种族/民族在少年司法系统六个主要决策点的整体影响：拘留、接收、请愿、豁免、裁决和安置。还进行了调节分析以探索研究设计特征的影响异质性。结果表明，对某些结果（例如拘留）的平均影响很小，而对其他结果（例如，请愿、弃权、裁决）没有明显的平均影响。研究之间也存在很大的异质性，尽管调节分析没有发现任何明确的模式。