Racial Disparities in Youth Pretrial Detention

Abstract

Pretrial detention, which makes up 75% of juvenile detention admissions, has been shown previously to be a juncture contributing to “disproportionate minority contact” in the juvenile carceral system. Given that prior evidence largely examines differences between Black and Caucasian youth, this study contributes data including Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian youth. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, the current study investigates a sample of over 43,000 juvenile cases in a northwest state. Using a generalized linear mixed model to estimate the effect of individual level characteristics while accounting for the random effect of differences at the county level, racial disparities in pretrial detention outcomes were assessed and implications discussed.