Source: (2006) Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice. 4(1):97-115.
When a foster care youth has been arrested, several child-serving agencies are required
to communicate effectively to ensure that a responsible guardian is present to take custody.
Exploratory research suggests that, in some cases, judges detain children unnecessarily
because their guardians fail to appear. This article presents the results of an
evaluation of Project Confirm, a program designed to reduce the unnecessary detention
of foster care youth. The evaluation reveals a disparity in pre-adjudication detention
rates between foster and nonfoster juveniles with similar characteristics both before and
after the introduction of the program. The lack of an average program effect on this disparity
is explained by the fact that the disparity decreased for juveniles with less serious
records but increased for those with more serious records. Finally, both the disparity in
detention prior to the program and the program effect differed according to juveniles’
gender, race, and court county.
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