Understanding Structural Risk Factors for Youth Involvement in the Juvenile Justice System in Philadelphia, PA

Purpose: In many major US cities, residential segregation and historical disinvestment has led to the disproportionate burden of poverty and limited access to resources for Black families. Not only are Black neighborhoods stripped of community investments needed to help families thrive, they are also often exposed to other negative risk factors and structural violence. Disparities in youth arrests can be explained by unequal policing practices that contribute to the disproportionate arrest rates among Black youth. This study uses the neighborhood rate of youth arrests to better understand structural factors that lead to Juvenile Justice System involvement.

Methods: This study utilized a descriptive spatial analysis that focused on mapping the geographic distribution of juvenile arrests and comparing relative rates of arrest with publicly available social and economic data for Philadelphia’s census tracts including poverty, unemployment, racial distribution, and vacant land. This analysis is based on the understanding that an arrest is the entry point for youth into the juvenile justice system.

Results: The spatial analysis conducted by this study revealed that youth arrests are disproportionately impacting specific neighborhoods. The neighborhoods with the highest rates of youth arrests were found to have a large proportion of Black youth and families, with 73% of people living in these neighborhoods being non-Hispanic Black. Additionally, these neighborhoods had higher rates of socioeconomic stressors, such as three times the rate of child poverty and two times the rate of unemployment compared to neighborhoods with the fewest arrests. They also had more structural risk factors due to disinvestment, with neighborhoods with the highest youth arrests having seven times the rate of vacant land compared to neighborhoods with the fewest arrests. Furthermore, the neighborhoods with high youth arrests were the same as those with high child welfare surveillance, with 70% of neighborhoods with the highest rates of CPS Hotline reports being the same as those with the highest rates of youth arrests. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to address the root causes of juvenile delinquency and reduce the disproportionate impact of the juvenile justice system on marginalized communities.

Conclusions: This study describes our understanding neighborhood-level factors associated with juvenile justice involvement. Juvenile justice systems may use this information to help identify opportunities to improve the provision of services in ways that may counteract structural disadvantages and reduce unnecessary juvenile arrests.