Structure Matters: Predicting Juvenile Justice System Behavior

Structure Matters: Predicting Juvenile Justice System Behavior
LaNina N. Cooke
October 2015

ISBN-13:  9781593328047 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / x, 164 pages

Price   $69.00

Description

Cooke examines the value of ecological structures in predicting juvenile justice system behavior, specifically during risk assessment, prosecution, and sanction determination. Her analysis considers religious establishments, public housing sites, and retail liquor stores as the ecological indicators and views them as stigmatizing and determinant of system behavior Through aggregating ecological, legal, and demographic data by zip code, the examination determined (a) associations between social ecology and juvenile justice decision points and (b) the degree to which juvenile probation officers and judges were more stringent and judgmental toward delinquents from neighborhoods with greater concentrations of the analyzed ecological structures.

About the Author

LaNina N. Cooke is a researcher, adjunct professor, and executive-level director in government. Her experience in criminal justice has covered substance abuse, drug courts, reentry, prison rape and sexual assault, and social ecology. She received her doctorate in Criminal Justice and Public Policy from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her previous education was from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Morgan State University.