Detention Screening: Prospects for Population Management and the Examination of Disproportionality by Race, Age, and Gender

Overcrowding in juvenile detention facilities continues to pose problems for many jurisdictions. This article examines detention screening as a policy response to overcrowding. It presents evidence, based on more than 1,000 admissions to secure detention, that a very simple detention-screening instrument can provide safe and effective utilization management for secure detention resources. The information gathered from the use of a detention-screening instrument can also be used to examine the extent to which extralegal factors such as gender, age, and race enter into detention decisions. Results indicate that detention screening is an effective mechanism for census management and that after controlling for legal factors, females are detained at a higher rate than males are and youth younger than 14 are detained at a higher rate than older youth are. Finally, in a finding inconsistent with much of the literature, after controlling for legal variables in this population, White youth are detained for less serious offenses than Black youth are.