Dissertation
Impact of juvenile risk assessment information on judges' and probation officers' decisions about residential placement and restrictive sanctions
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jun 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001187
Abstract
Juvenile risk assessment tools provide information to judges and juvenile probation officers for the case processing and planning of justice-involved youth, including to offer information to guide decisions made about the confinement and sanctioning of youth. However, such instruments vary widely in their measured outcomes. While research demonstrates the acceptable predictive validity of risk assessment measures for appraising recidivism risk, little has been done to empirically evaluate judges' understanding of information provided by risk assessments. Furthermore, judges' heuristic-based estimates of youths' likelihood to recidivate and the effects of such estimates have not been studied. Thus, this dissertation aimed to better understand judges' interpretations and use of juvenile risk assessment tools in their decision making around restrictive sanctions and confinement of youth. I evaluated whether a judge's estimate of the probability of a youth's recidivism mediates the relationship between risk level and their likelihood for ordering residential placement. Additionally, I examined the moderating role that the race of a youth may play on the judges' estimates of recidivism probability and their sanction decisions. Results revealed there was no simple, significant relationship found between risk level and judicial staff's confinement decisions. However, judicial staff estimated higher likelihood for recidivism as the risk level category increased and ordered out-of-home placements at an increased rate as their estimations of the youth's likelihood to recidivate increased. Youth race did not moderate the model. The information gathered by this dissertation can help generate risk communication recommendations and education offered to judges and probation staff to better inform decision making about youth dispositions.
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Details
- Title
- Impact of juvenile risk assessment information on judges' and probation officers' decisions about residential placement and restrictive sanctions
- Creators
- Jeanne McPhee
- Contributors
- Naomi E. Goldstein (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- viii, 76 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991018388911504721