Commemorating the 50th anniversary of
the National Longitudinal Surveys
NLS user since 2007
With the NLSY97, I've been able to examine how gender, race, and other structural inequalities influence juvenile offending and justice system processing. For example, although a considerable body of empirical and theoretical research examines disproportionate youth contact with the justice system, little research has been undertaken on the influence of contextual factors and structured social inequalities on disparities in justice system contact. Using a the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth appended with county- and state-specific data, my research has identified the macro-structural environments associated with severity of justice system response to youth.
Traditional studies of disproportionate youth contact with the justice system have relied on official data from youth who have already made contact with the justice system. One method to examine disproportionate minority contact (DMC) with the justice system that has been neglected in research is the analysis of longitudinal individual-level data. The breadth and longitudinal design make the NLSY97 uniquely capable of examining individual and contextual determinants of youth justice system contact.