Institutional Responses to Misconduct in Juvenile Prisons

Abstract

While the issue of discretion has been widely studied at the level of arrest and adjudication, few studies have examined discretion within the prison setting. The majority of studies that have examined discretion in the correctional environment focus on the decision making of guards. Few studies, however, have been able to empirically examine what hap pens to inmates once they are charged with an institutional misconduct. This study builds on this area of research by examining the correlates of decision making in disciplinary hearings within juvenile institutions. The results indicate, after controlling for race and charge type, that the age of the offender and extent of prior violent criminality are significant corre lates of prisoners who receive the most severe sanctions. The findings are consistent with the larger body of research on discretion at other stages of the criminal justice system in noting the importance of prior criminality and the age of the offender.