The interaction of mental health and race and ethnicity in juvenile justice placement decisions

We investigated the interaction of mental health needs and race and ethnicity on juvenile justice placement decisions. Mental health diagnoses and placement decisions were collected for a large (n = 9765) sample of justice-involved youth in the state of Texas from 2007 to 2008. Analyses revealed Black and Hispanic youth were overrepresented in secure facilities, although race and ethnicity were not predictive of disposition decisions beyond legal variables. Substance use interacted with race and ethnicity such that Black and Hispanic youth with substance use diagnoses were less likely than non-Hispanic White youth to be placed in secure settings. Youth with internalizing or externalizing mental health diagnoses received similar placement decisions regardless of race or ethnicity. Findings are in contrast to prior investigations of the interaction of race/ethnicity and mental health needs on placement decisions, perhaps due to the use of mental health diagnoses in the current study rather than other indicators of mental health need. Future research should investigate potential bias present within psychosocial evaluations and resulting mental health diagnoses within the juvenile justice system to inform their utility in the placement decision-making process, and how these social identities interact to influence each step along the juvenile justice system pathway to identify potential points of biased decision making that may compound the adverse effects of juvenile justice system involvement for youth.