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Journal Article 1: NeMoyer, A., Gale-Bentz, E., Goldstein, N. E. S., & Harvey, L. P. (2019). Factors associated with successful completion of a community-based, postarrest juvenile diversion program and subsequent rearrest. Crime & Delinquency.

Abstract: Although diversion programs can allow arrested youth to avoid formal justice system processing, unsuccessful program completion can result in adjudication. Thus, it is important to determine whether youth successfully complete programs and identify factors linked to success. We examined records from 933 postarrest diversion program participants. Youth received a wide range of conditions during participation and the vast majority successfully completed the program, became eligible for record expungement, and avoided rearrest within 3 years. Analyses revealed significant relationships between program completion and factors related to referral charge and imposed conditions; gender and program outcome were also linked to recidivism. Results both support the use of diversion programs to limit formal juvenile justice processing and encourage further evaluation of such programs.

Journal Article 2: Andersen, T. S., & Ouellette, H. M. (2018). Juvenile court outcomes following youth’s first arrest: A national test of the racial and ethnic threat hypothesis. Crime & Delinquency, 65, 183–214.

Abstract: Using nationally representative data, this research examined the associations between indicators of minority threat and juvenile justice processing following a first arrest. At intake, increasing Black presence in the community resulted in leniency, rather than severity. Once adjudicated, the size of the Black population had a nonlinear inverted-U-shaped relationship with probability of placement. Increasing Hispanic presence was associated with leniency in disposition, and economic threat was not significantly related outcomes. Indicators of minority threat did not exacerbate outcomes for minority youth. These findings suggest that, contrary to the expectations of minority threat theory, the growing presence of minorities in communities may weaken social control and harsh punishments, particularly once the size of the minority population reaches a critical threshold.