The Digital Turn

Recent decades have witnessed a digital turn in criminal justice processing that has contributed to the creation and dissemination of millions of criminal records per year, impacting both criminal justice workers and those processed by the system. Current US law has allowed for the public dissemination of these records, emphasizing free speech and transparency over other competing values, such as due process, privacy, or liberty. The turn toward digital disclosure of criminal justice information has outpaced thoughtful discussions about balancing privacy rights and the notion of public interest that the courts have developed during the past century. It is certainly in the public interest to have access to the workings of the police, courts, and prisons—it is a fundamental way that citizens can keep an eye on these powerful institutions. However, these core transparency values are being used for a different, entrepreneurial purpose since criminal records have become a commodified good.

The Effects of Race and Physical Evidence on the Likelihood of Arrest for Homicide

Previous research examining the association between criminal suspect’s race and the likelihood of arrest has produced inconsistent findings. Social scientists remain unsure as to whether Black or White criminal suspects have a higher probability of arrest. Still others find no substantive association between a criminal suspect’s race and the likelihood of arrest. This study contributes to the extant literature by examining the relationship between a criminal suspect’s race and the arrest sanction for the crime of homicide while controlling for the strength of physical evidence linking the criminal suspect to the crime. Although strength of physical evidence against a defendant in a criminal case has been repeatedly shown to be important in determining a variety of criminal justice processing outcomes, it has typically been excluded from research studies examining the arrest decision due to data limitations. Logistic regression results show that Black homicide suspects are not more likely than similarly situated White homicide suspects to be arrested by police. Results also show that Black-on-White homicides are not more apt than other offender–victim racial combinations to culminate in an arrest. Based on these findings, it appears that a homicide suspect’s race does not play a noteworthy role in influencing the likelihood of arrest after accounting for the strength of physical evidence gathered against the criminal suspect in the case.

The Effects of Juvenile System Processing on Subsequent Delinquency Outcomes

This chapter summarizes nearly 30 randomized controlled trials (as reported through 2008) that collectively provide evidence on the effectiveness of alternative methods for handling juveniles using meta-analytic techniques. It first discusses the theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of juvenile criminal justice processing on subsequent juvenile criminal behavior. The chapter also discusses the policy question of interest. Next, the chapter discusses how the research team systematically gathered and analyzed reports of randomized trials that tested the efficacy of justice-processing on subsequent juvenile outcomes. The results of this meta-analysis and the implications for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are then explained.