Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Preadjudicatory detention is used for about one-third of all juvenile offenders (Poulin et al., 1980). A protectionist purpose is often held to justify both the need for discretionary decision making in these cases and the absence of due process protections. In this study, we have included measures of juvenile offenders' socioemotional status with indicators of their legal status and social background in a log-linear analysis of detention decisions in New Jersey. The results suggest that protectionism is a major influence on these decisions and is in turn related to the impact of gender.
The authors are grateful to William P. Bridges, David A. Knoke, and Calvin Larson for their comments. The data for this study were collected under the auspices of the Department of Institutions and Agencies, State of New Jersey, with funds provided by that agency and by the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1986 annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago.