Exploring race, family, and community variation in juvenile institutionalization through the perspective of symbolic threat

ABSTRACT Prior research has established that family status, race, and community characteristics have a significant impact independently on the various stages of the juvenile justice process, particularly as it relates to ‘back-end’ decisions within the juvenile court. Despite this large body of the literature on ‘back-end’ decision-making in juvenile justice, limited research focuses on the impact of family function and structure through the lens of symbolic threat. Thus, the present study explores the effect of race, family status, and community characteristics – on juvenile institutionalization versus community placement outcomes. The results of the present study provided some support for symbolic threat; implications for theory, practice, and policy are discussed based on the outcomes of the study.