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The Social Construction of "Sophisticated" Adolescents

How Judges Integrate Juvenile and Criminal Justice Decision-Making Models

University of Washington, yharris{at}u.washington.edu

This study investigates the types of decision-making models that frame people-processing decisions. An analysis of the judicial waiver hearing will be used as an example of such institutional processing. I investigate how decision makers engage in practical reasoning by exploring the methods they use to organize information about youth and accomplish their judicial duties. Observational and interview data from a case study of three juvenile courthouses in a California county are used to investigate official case processing. The study offers three important theoretical insights for research in sociology and criminology; a revised theoretical framework for understanding juvenile justice decision making that incorporates criminal justice frameworks, an analysis of how substantive factors (e.g., values, stereotypes, assumptions) can enter into decision making, and an illustration of how decision making is organizationally situated.

Key Words: juvenile justice • focal concerns theory • decision making • judicial waiver

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 37, No. 4, 469-506 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0891241607309886


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