Risk assessment as a mechanism for reducing differential treatment of minorities by a juvenile justice system

Abstract Disparities in treatment of African American juvenile offenders persist in juvenile justice systems across the United States. This study examined adjudication trends over a ten-year span within a Mid-Western County’s juvenile court for African American young offenders subsequent of the system’s implementation of the Risk Need Responsivity Model (RNR-Model). Special attention was given to changes in disproportionate minority contact with intensive interventions within the Delinquency Division versus informal probation, which is considered a low intensity and less punitive adjudication path. The findings indicated African Americans were more likely to be referred to low intensity interventions at Intake (Informal Probation) after the RNR Model was implemented, suggesting disparities in contact were partially mitigated by the risk assessment approach. Implications for policy are discussed.