Can Structured Detention Screening Reduce Admissions to the Juvenile Legal System?: Evaluating the Impact of the Detention Assessment Tool (DAT)

IF 1.4 1区社会学 Q2 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Pub Date : 2026-09-16 DOI:10.1177/15412040261489536

Ian A. Silver, Sarah Philbrick, Debbie Dawes, Marianne Kluckman, Stephen Tueller

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Abstract

Aligning with our increased focus on juvenile rehabilitation, actuarial assessment tools have been implemented across the juvenile legal system. While post-conviction tools are intended to identify needs and reduce recidivism, the primary goal of pretrial assessment tools is to reduce detention admissions while maintaining public safety. However, a limited number of research evaluations to date have assessed if juvenile pretrial assessment tools reduce detention admissions. The current study assesses if the implementation of the Detention Assessment Tool (DAT; implemented in two-phases) reduced detention admissions in North Carolina from 2004-2024. The current study revealed that the DAT 1.0 was associated with immediate reductions in detention admissions ( b = −5.230, p < 0.001), the effects of which were sustained from 2012-2020. Between county variation on detention admissions was observed, suggesting that targeted engagement with juvenile legal system officials to increase fidelity to assessment implementation could further reduce the amount of youth admitted to pretrial detention.

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有组织的拘留筛选能减少青少年法律制度的入学率吗？：评估拘留评估工具（DAT）的影响

为了配合我们对青少年康复的日益重视，我们在整个少年法律体系中实施了精算评估工具。虽然定罪后工具旨在确定需求并减少累犯，但审前评估工具的主要目标是在维护公共安全的同时减少拘留人数。然而，迄今为止有限数量的研究评估评估了少年审前评估工具是否减少了拘留。目前的研究评估了2004-2024年期间，拘留评估工具（DAT；分两阶段实施）的实施是否减少了北卡罗来纳州的拘留入学率。目前的研究表明，DAT 1.0与拘留入院人数的立即减少有关（b = - 5.230, p < 0.001），其影响从2012年到2020年持续存在。观察到县与县之间拘留入院情况的差异，表明有针对性地与少年司法系统官员接触，以提高对评估实施的忠实度，可以进一步减少青少年被审前拘留的数量。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY-

CiteScore

6.90

自引率

10.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice: An Interdisciplinary Journal provides academics and practitioners in juvenile justice and related fields with a resource for publishing current empirical research on programs, policies, and practices in the areas of youth violence and juvenile justice. Emphasis is placed on such topics as serious and violent juvenile offenders, juvenile offender recidivism, institutional violence, and other relevant topics to youth violence and juvenile justice such as risk assessment, psychopathy, self-control, and gang membership, among others. Decided emphasis is placed on empirical research with specific implications relevant to juvenile justice process, policy, and administration. Interdisciplinary in scope, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice serves a diverse audience of academics and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, education, psychology, social work, behavior analysis, sociology, law, counseling, public health, and all others with an interest in youth violence and juvenile justice.