DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37362.v1
title: The Influence of Race/Ethnicity on Disparities in Correctional Dispositions: Examining How Risk Assessment & Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context Affects Sentencing Decisions of Adjudicated Juveniles, Ohio, 2010-2016
title: Version 1

description: The overall goal of this research project was to examine the impact that risk assessment has on the sentencing of racial minority youth and youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods. One of the main goals of correctional risk assessment is to reduce disparate outcomes for certain groups of youth in the juvenile justice system (e.g. Black youth). In practice, risk assessment is used with this goal in mind. However, there is very little research which shows whether or not risk assessment actually has its intended effects on sentencing. Therefore, this study set out to examine whether or not risk assessment reduces the sentencing gap seen in most research for minority youth and youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods. In addition, several other important research topics were explored to understand the role that race and socioeconomic disadvantage play in the juvenile justice system. These research topics included: (1) variation in the predictive validity of risk assessment across race, (2) variation in the predictive validity of risk assessment across neighborhood disadvantage, and (3) the moderating effects of race/gender and court dispositions on the predictive validity of risk assessment. 
To achieve the research goals in this study, data was collected from a large juvenile court in a Midwestern County. Information from 4,383 youth that came into contact with the court between January 2010 and December 2016 were included in the study. Data was collected that related to youth demographics, neighborhood characteristics in which youth lived, risk assessments data measured by the Ohio Youth Assessment System (OYAS), treatment programming received, court dispositions/sentencing, and recidivism.
description: Data in this study was collected from juvenile court records and the United States census. Additionally, data were collected from the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute (UCCI), which provides a web-based platform that the juvenile court in this study used to record all risk assessment data.
description: Data in this study was collected from juvenile court records and the United States census. The variables in this study can be split up into seven main categories:

<strong> Youth Information</strong>: Data in this section include demographic characteristics of the youth in this study such as race, sex, and age. 
<strong> Risk Assessment Data</strong>: Data in this section include information about previous adjudications, school suspensions, drug use, and attitudes from the youth in the study.
<strong>Census Data</strong>: Data in this section were collected from the United States Census 2015 American Community Survey 5-year estimates and were linked to each youth in the study. Information in this section is related to economic, social, and neighborhood conditions
<strong>Initial Charge and Recidivism Data</strong>: Variables in this section include information about types of offenses committed, sentencing outcomes, recidivism, and more. 
<strong>Probation Data</strong>: Data in this section were received from court records and contains information related to each youth's probation sentence if they had one.
<strong> Treatment Programming Data</strong>: This section contains information about the length, type, and other details of treatment programs that youth in the study received.
<strong>Disposition Data</strong>: This section contains information about the various court dispositions the youth received in the study.
description: These data are not weighted.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: The Influence of Race/Ethnicity on Disparities in Correctional Dispositions: Examining How Risk Assessment & Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context Affects Sentencing Decisions of Adjudicated Juveniles, Ohio, 2010-2016
description: Adjudicated Juvenile Offenders in a Midwestern County in the United States. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census Block ID