Youth, Color, and Conduct Violations in Prison

Abstract

Juveniles sentenced to correctional facilities present many challenges for administrators and staff members. One of these challenges relates to the commission of conduct violations by youthful inmates. The current study examined prison misconduct among a sample of 951 juveniles in northwestern state prison system in comparison to their adult counterparts. Results show that juveniles commit rule infraction at a higher rate than adults over the age of 21, but not as high as a comparison group of nearest age adult inmates, 18 to 20 years old. The influence of race/ethnicity on offending varied depending on the type of rule violations studied.