Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
Summer 2023
Abstract
We examined effects of perpetrator age (adolescent vs. adult) and perpetrator race on legal outcomes in 382 alleged child sexual abuse cases within a Midwestern child advocacy center. Supporting hypotheses, perpetrators were less likely to be arrested or referred for prosecution when they were adolescents than when they were adults—but only when the perpetrators were White. In contrast, for perpetrators of color, being an adolescent (as compared to an adult) did not reduce arrest or prosecutorial referral likelihood. Youth does not proffer protection from criminal legal system involvement for adolescents of color accused of sex offending.
Rights Statements
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/
Recommended Citation
Picot, Christopher and Stevenson, Margaret, "Adolescent Sex Offenders Are Diverted from the Criminal Legal System, But Only If They Are White" (2023). John W. Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-Legal Studies. Paper 4.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/summerlegalprogram/4
Rights Statement
