12 Feb Concept Paper: Research Design Assignment Instructions

CJUS 885

Concept Paper: Research Design Assignment Instructions 

Overview 

You will write a 5–8-page paper in current Turabian format explaining your research design and methodology, including an explanation and theoretical justification for your selected research method.  

Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself.  Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in their writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion. 

Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research. This is not a comprehensive list, and your own research question may require a different design and methodology. 

· Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one question and answer sessions, and they are structured or semi-structured. Interviews will provide much information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable opinion on a subject. 

· Focus Groups:  Are structured small group brainstorming sessions. They require audio and/or video recording, extensive transcription, multiple coding, and analytical processes that often accompany qualitative research using focus groups.  They can be conducted online or face-to-face. 

· Open-Ended Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful when you want to learn what a larger population thinks. 

· Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about occurrences in the world. Observations provide your insight about specific people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview. 

· Quantitative Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to describe your data or make statistical inferences, or to find some trend or pattern in the case of time series analysis. A type of analysis would be to survey local government managers concerning their leadership style and analyze whether gender roles create a significant difference. 

 Instructions 

· The research design assignment should be 5-8 pages in length. 

· The research design assignment should be written in current Turabian format. 

· The research design assignment should cite sources relevant to justifying and defending the selected research design. There is no set number of sources required. You should provide enough sources to justify their choice of method and design.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool. 

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IMPACTS OF JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM ON AFRICAN AMERICANS 2

Impacts of Juvenile Justice System on African American Adolescents

Jervaughn Reid

Helm School of Government, Liberty University

Author Note

Jervaughn Fabian Reid.

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jervaughn Fabian Reid

Email:

Abstract

African American juveniles are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. In other words, African Americans interact with the juvenile justice system disproportionately than whites. These interactions of the African Americans with the juvenile justice system can have a long-term impact on things like being imprisoned or even future career opportunities. The purpose of this study is to assess the consequences of the interactions of African American adolescents with the juvenile justice system. In essence, the study seeks to answer what makes African Americans adolescents be disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system and the impact these interactions have on African Americans. For example, whether this interaction contributes to repeated deviant behaviors. In addition, whether skin color contributes to unequal interactions of African Americans with the juvenile justice system. In order to research these questions, a structured interview would be conducted with African American adolescents that have interacted with the juvenile justice system. The result of the structured interviews will be grouped into themes. For instance, factors contributing to the African Americans adolescents interacting with the juvenile justice system compared to the whites. The idea is to identify a pattern of themes or factors contributing to African American adolescents interacting with the juvenile justice system. This is important because it can help identify areas of concern and what can be done to address them. Moreover, it can help develop strategies that can help reduce the interactions of African American adolescents with the juvenile justice system and the negative consequences.

Keywords: Adolescent, African American, Juvenile Justice System, Impact

Impacts of Juvenile Justice System on African American Adolescents

Problem Statement

African American youth interact with the juvenile justice system at higher rates than any other ethnic group (Leiber & Fix, 2019; Spinney et al., 2018). A report by the Sentencing Project shows that as of 2013, Black juveniles were four times likely to be committed compared to white juveniles (Rovner, 2016). Notably, among African Americans that interact with the juvenile justice system, the rate of adult recidivism is higher compared to other ethnic groups (Sitney et al., 2016). Repeat offending and recidivism are higher among African Americans than other racial groups. However, literature has focused on broken families' poverty, among other factors contributing to high recidivism rates among African Americans (Stahler et al., 2013; Tegeng & Abadi, 2018). The current study will fill a gap about how experiences of the black youths in correctional facilities may contribute to high recidivism rates compared to whites.

The current study examines the problem of the high recidivism/ rates among committed Blacks compared to whites. The study seeks to analyze the problem from the experiences of the Black and white youths in juvenile correctional facilities. If experiences are the same, then the cause of the high rates of recidivism and re-offending among African Americans compared to whites is outside the correctional facilities. On the other hand, if experiences are not the same, this could be evidence of unequal treatment leading to unequal outcomes (high recidivism and re-offending rates among black youths compared to whites).

Literature Review

Juveniles are at an increased risk of experiencing adverse outcomes in many aspects of their lives, such as aggression, academic underachievement, delinquent behaviors, and substance abuse (Abrams et al., 2021). For many children and adolescents, the traditional systems that guide their transition from childhood into adulthood, such as school, work, and family, face many challenges (Abrams et al., 2021). The number of youths arrested for different crimes has been on the rise. In the 1980s, there was a ten-year rise in the number of youth delinquents, with a climax in 1994. This rise in juvenile delinquency resulted in many youths spending time in adult correctional facilities. With the crucial legal alterations that both federal and state governments later implemented, there was an increase in the population of juveniles incarcerated in juvenile criminal justice facilities. The surge of youth delinquents altered the perspective of the juvenile correctional facilities; they adopted a punitive rather than rehabilitative strategy.

Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency can be defined as the behavior of an adolescent, or a child marked by an infringement of the law, disobedience, persistent mischievousness, or antisocial behavior. Several theoretical approaches have tried to explain why adolescents and children deviated from social norms by participating in delinquent or antisocial behavior (Hoffmann & Dufur, 2018). For instance, strain theory argues that stressful circumstances can result in delinquent behaviors (Peck et al., 2018). This theory claims that adolescents or children engage in antisocial and delinquent behaviors when they fail to achieve societal or personal goals using conventional approaches or when they feel as if they must exert extra efforts than other juveniles. According to Agnew, three main types of strain exist: (a) the failure or inability to accomplish goals valued by a culture, (b) losing a positive stimulus of encouragements, and (c) the presence of negative stimuli. Agnew argued that daily exposure to all types of strain increases the possibility of engaging in antisocial or delinquent behaviors. Pressure or strain is placed upon some people in the community to participate in non-conformist as opposed to conformist conduct (Peck et al., 2018). Even though these stressors can be experienced at different levels daily, the theory asserts that a person's capability to cope, emotions, environment, and personality indicate how best he or she can handle the strain. Adolescents and children with positive support systems and adaptive skills to cope with the strain are not likely to revert to illegal behaviors as ways of dealing with the strain.

Coping Skills

Agnew argues that a juvenile’s adaptive skills determine whether a strain would force them to engage in delinquent behavior. Examples of coping skills are physical activity, employment, journaling, and verbalizing frustrations and emotions with trusted people (Peck et al., 2018). People make crucial decisions based on perceived abilities to accomplish goals and aspirations, coping skills, and social support levels (Agnew & Brezina, 2019). Individuals reexamine feelings of frustrations, anger, and the implications of engaging in criminal activity through robust social bonds.

Personality Traits

Strain theory proposes that personality qualities play an essential role in the way people respond to strain. Strain's presence usually triggers feelings of anger and frustration, subsequently resulting in delinquent behaviors (Agnew & Brezina, 2019). One should consider different elements when identifying whether a person can cope with the environmental strain in maladaptive ways, including intellect, interpersonal skills, temperament, affiliation with an offender, self-esteem level, and enough social support (Agnew & Brezina, 2019).

Emotions

Researchers agree that external factors elicit negative emotions of fear, defeat, and anger (Agnew & Brezina, 2019). When developing the strain theory, Agnew stressed anger and the notion that individuals usually attribute negative circumstances to external forces, such as family, society, and peers. Because anger reduces inhibition, adolescents and children are quick to engage in impulsive behavior, usually justifying delinquent conduct, as it is attributable to frustration (Agnew & Brezina, 2019). When the level of frustration and anger experienced by a person increases, their perception of implications for their delinquent behaviors becomes blurred, increasing their possibility of committing crimes as a way of coping.

Other theories have attempted to explain delinquent behaviors. The life-course theory is one such theory. It tries to explain the emergence and development of delinquent behaviors using a sequence of trajectories or pathways (Pratt, 2016). The theory claims that important turning points or events might change a person's life trajectory. National statistics on the delinquent activity rates indicate that juvenile delinquency rates increase during pre-adolescent years. Even so, violent crimes rise between ages sixteen and twenty. Although criminal conduct peaks in the teenage years, research points to an early delinquency onset and continuity of such behavior throughout life. The theory mentions various risk factors at different ages and the impacts of varying life occasions on the trajectory of an adolescent or a child's life (Pratt, 2016). For instance, academic failure, association with offenders, parental criminology, poor education, low socioeconomic situation, anger, boredom, and inconsistent parenting or parental supervision improve the risk of delinquency (Robertson & Walker, 2018).

The social control hypothesis asserts that juvenile delinquency emerges when social connections are deficient or weakened (Costello & Laub, 2020). This hypothesis posits that bonds to school, community programs, and family can serve as protective forces for adolescents and children, decreasing their possibility of engaging in deviant conduct. Although the theory tries to explain delinquency from a social system's perspective, considering scholastic, familial, and societal factors, the theory focuses more on parenting and individual factors that lead to delinquency (Costello & Laub, 2020). The theory postulates that the lack of self-control results in delinquent behaviors. It mentions parental factors, for instance, parental supervision and skills, as the main cause of delinquency (Miller& Vuolo, 2018). The capability to use self-control is taught and learned when a child is young and is inculcated by parental acknowledgment, guidance, and discipline (Costello & Laub, 2020). Like other theories, this theory emphasizes the benefits of parents and their role in controlling the development of delinquent or pro-social behaviors via attachment and successful parenting practices.

Researchers have divided juvenile delinquency into four categories: property, person, public order, and drug. Research conducted by Kurlychek & Johnson (2019) revealed that about 1.5 million black youths aged thirteen to eighteen had delinquency cases in the years ranging from 2012 to 2016. Those aged fourteen and older engaged in about eighty-three percent of juvenile cases, and about half of the youths were sixteen or seventeen years of age. Studies also found that more than 800,000 Hispanic youth aged thirteen and eighteen had cases from 2012 to 2016. About 1.9 million white youths of the same age group also had delinquency cases within the same time frame. A greater portion (about sixty-eight percent) of black juveniles had cases between 2012 and 2016, making them more prone to delinquent behaviors than white and Hispanic youth, with only twenty-two point five- and twenty-two-point nine percent respectively, having cases in 2012 to 2016 (Kurlychek & Johnson, 2019).

Recidivism

The recidivism rates are currently high among black youths, and effective methods of addressing them are limited. Juveniles are not likely to be worried by the impact of their behaviors, resulting in a higher risk of negative reactions, translating into rearrests and incarcerations. The NIJ (National Institute of Justice) defines recidivism as an act perpetrated by an individual who is re-apprehended, reconvicted, and re-incarcerated within three years after being arrested for any criminal charge (Fagan & Novak, 2018). Some experts have used varying periods to determine the design of recidivism in their studies. For instance, Brame et al., in their 2018 research, use twenty-four months as the wait time, with about eighty percent of the participants recidivating after only three years. The report published by the Pew Center for research states that recidivism occurred when an individual was released, re-apprehended, and reconvicted for committing another crime or when an individual's parole or probation was revoked because they did not follow the rules laid out for parole or probation (Fagan & Novak, 2018).

It must be noted that individuals who recidivate come from different socioeconomic backgrounds with varying rehabilitation and psychological challenges. There are three main factors associated with recidivism; (a) many youths ultimately stop recidivating when transitioning into early adulthood, (b) rates of recidivism are higher for medium-term, and short-term offenders, and lastly, (c), most grown-up who participate in crime have significant juvenile involvement. Researchers have found nine statistically important measures in determining adolescents rearrest: gender, age, involvement in the criminal justice system, mental health treatment, use of drugs, diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms, peer delinquency, situational as well as familial risk factors (Thornton et al., 2019). Black juveniles are at an increased risk of recidivating than juveniles of other races. However, the highest recidivism indicator in black adolescents and children compared to Hispanic and white juveniles had family members with prior contact with the judicial system, previous arrests or petitions, and a diagnosis of drug abuse (Donnelly, 2017). Financial and material support, marginalization or discrimination, insufficient support from relatives and family, and lack of employment opportunities were also factoring that grown-up offender reported as elevating their recidivating risks.

Race

Studies reveal that despite huge differences in the juvenile criminal justice system compared to the years before reforms, minority offenders still experience higher incidence rates (Robles-Ramamurthy & Watson, 2019). The 2018 census showed that among the 79,963 respondents, 11,081 and 53,445 were black and white, respectively, and the others were native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and people identifying as more than one race (Fagan & Novak, 2018). The same census report demonstrated that fifty-four percent of adolescents and children were White, twenty-three percent were Hispanic, fourteen percent were Black, and under ten percent were from other races. At the time, black youth comprised about sixteen percent of the nation's population but accounted for thirty-one percent of referrals made to court, twenty-six percent of juveniles apprehended, forty-four percent of juveniles detained, thirty-four percent of formal processing in court, and thirty-two percent of all adjudicated delinquent (Robles-Ramamurthy & Watson, 2019). Studies also showed that black juveniles perpetrated fifty-three percent of all violent crimes, forty-four involved white juveniles, two percent involved American Indian juveniles, and one percent involved youth from other races; however, there was no information on Hispanics (Campbell et al., 2018).

Black youth are at a higher risk of recidivating than Hispanic youth and their White counterparts. They are six times more likely to offend than whites, and Hispanics are twice as likely as Whites to commit a crime (Fagan & Novak, 2018). Minority juvenile offenders (Hispanic and Black) comprise about sixty-eight percent of all offender populations, accounting for about thirty-six percent of the whole population. Studies show that in offenses associated with public order, property, and persons, Black juveniles are a hundred and forty percent more likely to be taken to courts than their Caucasian counterparts (Dragomir & Tadros, 2020).

The population of Hispanics has risen to the extent that they are currently the largest minority group in the nation (Dragomir & Tadros, 2020). Even after controlling for variables such as socioeconomic status, Hispanic and black youth are more likely than whites and other races to commit a crime. Due to the high incarceration rates, Hispanics will be arrested and incarcerated in high numbers, second only to black Americans (Fagan & Novak, 2018). Some researchers have found significant variances in rearrests between white and Hispanic youth. However, others have found that the difference between white and black youth and Hispanic and white youth was not statistically significant for juveniles who have been rearrested.

Gender

Researchers have proposed that gender is a huge indicator of recidivism regardless of the period, age, nation, or even culture. While males and females enter the criminal justice system for differing reasons, females are more likely to be taken to facility placement than males (Kerig, 2018). Different researchers have observed that male youth have a fundamentally higher risk of recidivating than female counterparts. Hispanic females have a lower recidivism rate than other races, while black males have the highest percentage of juvenile convicts, and white males account for the highest percentage of recidivists. In general, males have a higher tendency to recidivate than females. A study conducted by Ramaswamy & Freudenberg in 2012 found that seventy percent of youth wrongdoers were Black youth, while eighty-five percent of all young guilty parties were male. Other researchers additionally resolved that male portrayed an elevated risk for adult incarceration associated with felonies with each referral to the justice system; however, among females, referrals were insignificant predictors of adulthood arrest; rather, parental divorce, family violence, as well as cumulative risk factors of childhood increased the likelihood of adulthood arrest (Myers et al., 2018). Male offenders have a higher chance of being placed in secure facilities than females.

Environment and Social Factors

Parental mental disturbance, family adversity, parental criminality, poor parenting abilities, broken homes, overcrowding, neglect, abuse, and low financial status have been the predominant environmental factors contributing to delinquency and recidivism among juveniles. A study found that community stressors, family relationships, personal victimization, peer relationships, economic hardship, school, health, discrimination, juvenile justice, child welfare, and technology and media were the main stressful factors contributing to delinquency (Trinidad et al., 2018). Environmental elements contribute to the differences between arrests and the detention of black and white youths. Environmental and social elements added to the inconsistencies between the arrests and detainment of young White and Black people. More critically, the studies discovered that many Black adolescents live in rough areas; many have fathers with histories of felonies and live in a culture of substance.

Research revealed that those juveniles who experience disregard/misuse, crime victimization, and property crime are bound to recidivate than youth who do not encounter these elements. Traumatic experiences with females likewise showed an increase in the probability to recidivate. Pasco-Fearon & Belsky (2011) contend that youths who lack an infant-mother connection during the early stages of development have an increased probability of becoming delinquent. Such youths may engage in highly aggressive criminal behaviors, such as stealing or robbery with violence, and ultimately recidivate when released from the correctional facility (Trinidad et al., 2018). Many African American youths taken into the foster care system when they are very young because of disorganized attachment have a higher likelihood of recidivating during early adulthood and adolescence.

Experts have isolated abuse into two classes, as those people who state offices recognize and the individuals who go unreported as obscure or stowed away (Trinidad et al., 2018). Parental abuse and disregard are high predictors for offending, observing that delinquent youth were highly likely to have been involved with the child protective service department than their peers and are more likely to recidivate (Anaswami et al., 2019). Additionally, a group of studies exhibits that male are more inclined to misconduct when encountering abuse because of an intrinsic increment in violent behavior.

There are two main domains of adolescents' experience; school and home; subsequently, it makes sense that adolescents' psychological welfare is correlated with their home experiences. Antisocial and aggressive behaviors come from unemotional and callous traits during upbringing (Anaswami et al., 2019). For example, parents' lack of empathy or guilt may cause delinquency in youths, leading to adulthood recidivism. Black juveniles experience more stressors in their neighborhood and family resources than other races, in whom a positive correlation for recidivism and delinquency was found. Studies also show that child-rearing practices have a solid relationship with criminal conduct.

There is a solid relationship between child delinquency and parenting styles. The results of many studies show that disapproving, authoritarian, and hostile parents cause delinquent behaviors among adolescents and children (Anaswami et al., 2019). They engage in hostile and antisocial behavior to compensate for their parents' inability to support them emotionally. Those who engage in animal cruelty and arson activities most likely come from unsupportive families where the father or the mother is neglectful, hostile, and consistently rejects them. Parents who care and love their children are attentive to their needs and support them in every way helps to moderate aggressive tendencies in their children, therefore, preventing delinquency.

According to research, understanding factors that may influence a child's delinquency in the community is crucial to grasping recidivism in children (Anaswami et al., 2019). Juvenile recidivism significantly correlates with drug and substance abuse, but black youth comprise substantially disproportionate cases of recidivism rates. These findings align with those of Fazel & Yu (2011), who demonstrated that mental health disorders resulting from abuse of drugs and substances could cause recidivism. The socioeconomic environment was also found to be a major recidivism predictor. African American offenders are at an increased risk of recidivating when released because they often return to poor areas surrounded by violence in the community (Manyam et al., 2020).

Emotional Wellness and Mental Health

Experts have observed that emotional well-being and mental issues are common among youth delinquents and play an important role in recidivism rates (Wylie & Rufino, 2018). Surveys have established that the number of juvenile offenders who report having a mental health problem is increasing at a disturbing rate. Critically, African American offenders are at an elevated risk of mental health disorders associated with violence and aggressive behavior (Myers et al., 2018). Recognizing these mental health issues in African American juveniles is critical. Race is a crucial factor affecting recidivism rates among young offenders with mental illnesses. Thus, racial differences in recidivism rates between white and black delinquent offenders are strongly connected to mental disorders decreasing the recidivism rate within the populace. The recidivism rates reduce, and the period it takes to recidivate increases when psychiatric treatment is provided to offenders who need them, even though black juveniles generally have higher recidivism rates in shorter periods than whites. Other researchers have determined that recidivism rates are higher among African Americans with psychiatric disorders than other races. Moreover, diversion programs usually used to address recidivism for African American youths fail to integrate mental health treatments, leading to higher recidivism rates. Studies have shown that black youth offenders have insufficient access to mental health treatments, increasing the likelihood of recidivating (Wylie & Rufino, 2018).

Youths with a history of drug and substance abuse have a higher chance of recidivism than those with no such history. Even with findings related to drugs and substance abuse, experts found that youngster who had comorbidity of disruptive and internalizing behavior disorder was considerably more likely to recidivate than those with no such disorders (Thornton et al., 2019). However specific, mental disorders did not forecast adulthood recidivism.

Individuals with behavioral disorders diagnosis were more likely to recidivate. Those with suicidal tendencies and ideations were estimated to be three times as likely to recidivate as their healthy counterparts (Wylie & Rufino, 2018). However, it was not clear why these high predictors emerged. Studies have reported that negative experiences that induced trauma among youths could recidivism during adulthood. These findings were corroborated by Becker et al. (2012), who asserted that posttraumatic stress and mental issues are the leading factors causing recidivism in youths. Because of their socioeconomic situations and high incarceration rates, African Americans with mental health issuers are highly likely to recidivate than other racial groups. Although a mental health disorder is a strong recidivism predictor, peopled with a diagnosis associated with aggressive behaviors such as conduct disorder, impulse control disorder, disruptive conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder were more likely to recidivate (Kretschmar et al., 2018).

Research shows that mental health issues not associated with drugs or substance abuse do not indicate high recidivism in adults (Thornton et al., 2019). Some studies found that people with substance abuse-related disorders did not think highly likely to recidivate. However, substance abuse is a predictor of recidivism. Contrary, other studies found that incarcerated boys with mental disorders resulting from non-substance abuse also exhibited adulthood recidivism (Baetz et al., 2021). In conclusion, severe recidivism appears to be caused by psychiatric disorders among children and adolescent boys more often than girls.

Use of Diversion Programs

Diversion programs can be used with juvenile offenders as one of the ways of dealing with their susceptibility to recidivism. They are alternatives to continued or initial interactions with the justice system. These programs have four main impacts (Wright & Levine, 2021). They include a decrease in early involvement in the justice system; a decrease in placements in out-of-home facilities, particularly for young children; maintenance of youth engagement and connectedness in the society by keeping them in their environment; and a decrease in cost in comparison to court processing or secure placement (Wright & Levine, 2021). Examples of these programs include in-home probation, psychiatric courts, drug courts, and specialized programs to solve the needs of young people. These programs are categorized into formal as well as informal programs. Informal programs tend to be less restrictive. They are used to divert juveniles away from the criminal justice system, whereas formal programs are used after arrests and often involve court proceedings and processing (Wright & Levine, 2021). Once juveniles complete the diversion programs, they are no longer involved with the justice system.

In-Home Probation

Researchers have found that some youthful offenders find it difficult to transition back into society when released from correctional facilities smoothly. According to a study conducted by Kratcoski et al. (2020), youths who were given in-home probation experienced less likelihood of recidivism because of strict parole limitations (Kubik, 2019). Black juvenile offenders who are allowe