Use of Manifest Injustice in the Washington State Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration

[摘要] In the Washington State Juvenile Code, the Manifest Injustice (MI) provision allows judges to sentence youth outside of the standard guidelines. We compared rates of Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA) involvement and MI between racial minority youth and Caucasian youth. Although not statistically significant, there was a trend toward African American and multiracial youth having MI used to decrease their sentence less frequently than Caucasian youth. African American youth were about half as likely to have MI used to intensify their sentence compared with Caucasian youth (rate ratio = .49, p = .002), whereas multiracial youth were 42 percent less likely (rate ratio = .58, p = .04). More African American youth reside in urban and liberal parts of the state where judges may be more progressive and less likely to use MI to intensify sentences. More diversion programs targeting minority youth exist in urban areas of Washington, and more African American youth are transferred to adult court; both reduce the likelihood of minority youth receiving MI. Judges in rural areas of the state, which have fewer treatment resources, may be using MI to access services only available to court-involved youth. It is imperative that community behavioral health services are available so that youth and families can be justly served. The juvenile justice system traditionally takes a more benevolent approach than its adult counterpart. The mission statement of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, part of the United States Department of Justice, states that it “provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of juveniles and their families.” ¹ The majority of the juvenile codes throughout the United States identify treatment or rehabilitation as a goal. ² The Washington State Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA) is the state agency serving youth who are committed to residential custody by county juvenile courts and during community reentry. JRA emphasizes accountability and rehabilitation. In Washington State, there exists a provision in the juvenile code that allows judges to sentence youth outside of the standard sentencing guidelines, known as Manifest Injustice (MI). ³ If the standard sentencing guidelines yield a sentence that would be an injustice to the offender or risk the safety of the public, the judge can use MI to impose an alternative disposition. “MI Down” sentences the youth to a term shorter than the standard sentencing range, “MI In” sentences the youth to institutionalization (e.g., to a residential detention facility, when guidelines would not do so), and “MI Up” sentences the youth to a term longer than the standard sentencing range. In theory, MI allows judges to adjudicate youth according to the more altruistic nature of the juvenile court with both the youth's and the public's best interests in mind. In the juvenile justice system, efforts have been made to integrate the assessment of potential risks and treatment needs in determining the most appropriate disposition for youth. ^{4 , 5} Youth in the juvenile justice system also have higher rates of mental illness than their peers in the community. ⁶ The use of MI is likely related to a number of factors related to both the nature of the crime and the characteristics of the youth. Risk factors for reoffending, family and community supports, and perceived mental health treatment needs could contribute to a judge choosing to use MI, although ideally the systems involved in caring for these youth could address these issues in the least restrictive setting possible. It is critical that community resources be equipped to serve youth so that MI is not used for the sole purpose of accessing supports that are not available in the community. Although other states may have initiatives comparable with MI, their use has not been systematically evaluated. There is racial discrimination throughout all levels of the criminal justice system, and racial inequality in juvenile justice sentencing is also well established. ⁷ This investigation evaluates how MI is used across racial groups among Washington youth in JRA. Given the sentencing inequities throughout the criminal justice system within the United States, it was hypothesized that MI would be used more frequently to decrease sentences of Caucasian youth and increase sentences of minority youth.

[学科分类] 儿科学