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Gender and the Likelihood of Being Securely Detained for Contempt
Author(s) -
MCGUIRE M. DYAN,
KUHN KATHRYN E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
juvenile and family court journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.155
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1755-6988
pISSN - 0161-7109
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6988.2003.tb00145.x
Subject(s) - contempt , psychology , criminology , juvenile delinquency , economic justice , law , juvenile court , social psychology , political science
Several theorists have hypothesized that juvenile court judges are circumventing the proscription contained in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (“JJDPA”), which prohibits the secure confinement of status offenders by securely detaining status offenders for contempt. It has also been suggested that girls may be especially likely to be securely detained as a result of violating a valid court order. This study uses descriptive and multivariate techniques to examine the demographic, legal, and jurisdictional variables associated with receiving secure detention for violating a valid court order and to evaluate the degree to which the spirit, if not the letter, of the JJDPA's core requirement of deinstitutionalizing status offenders is being violated because of the exemption permitting juvenile court judges to securely detain children found in contempt. The findings from this study indicate that being female does not contribute to detention for contempt but being accused of a status offense does. Implications of these findings are discussed.