{"title":"Examining the “Gang Penalty” in the Juvenile Justice System: A Focal Concerns Perspective","authors":"D. Walker, Gabriel T. Cesar","doi":"10.1177/1541204020916238","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"There are hundreds of thousands of juvenile gang members in the United States who are at heightened risk of criminal offending, violent victimization, and incarceration. Importantly, however, incarceration in itself is a lifelong risk factor for negative social outcomes. That said, little is known about the effects of gang membership on the sentencing outcomes of juvenile offenders. The primary research question of the current study is: How does self-reported gang membership influence the likelihood of incarceration relative to similarly situated non-gang-involved juvenile defendants? To address this question, the current study uses data obtained from the Pathways to Desistance study. In a sample of 1,067 serious adolescent offenders drawn from Wave I, results show that gang affiliation is a significant predictor of incarceration. This finding was consistent across the two study sites (Phoenix, AZ, and Philadelphia, PA), ultimately providing support for a “gang penalty” in juvenile sentencing outcomes. The implications for future research, juvenile justice policy, and youth development are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47525,"journal":{"name":"Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice","volume":"18 1","pages":"315 - 336"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2020-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/1541204020916238","citationCount":"10","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204020916238","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 10
Abstract
There are hundreds of thousands of juvenile gang members in the United States who are at heightened risk of criminal offending, violent victimization, and incarceration. Importantly, however, incarceration in itself is a lifelong risk factor for negative social outcomes. That said, little is known about the effects of gang membership on the sentencing outcomes of juvenile offenders. The primary research question of the current study is: How does self-reported gang membership influence the likelihood of incarceration relative to similarly situated non-gang-involved juvenile defendants? To address this question, the current study uses data obtained from the Pathways to Desistance study. In a sample of 1,067 serious adolescent offenders drawn from Wave I, results show that gang affiliation is a significant predictor of incarceration. This finding was consistent across the two study sites (Phoenix, AZ, and Philadelphia, PA), ultimately providing support for a “gang penalty” in juvenile sentencing outcomes. The implications for future research, juvenile justice policy, and youth development are discussed.
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.