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Prior research has shown that Black and Hispanic students are more likely to experience office discipline referrals than White youth, and the magnitude of these inequalities has been found to vary by gender. However, it remains unclear whether racial/ethnic and gender disparities in office referrals might be amplified among students in more disruptive classroom environments. Analyses of data from the 2012-2021 8th/10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey (N = 70,442) reveal that, among male youth, Black- and Hispanic-White differences in office referrals are substantially weaker for students who describe their classrooms as more disruptive. In contrast, the heightened risk of an office referral for minority female students relative to White females increases in correspondence with higher levels of classroom disruptiveness.

Much prior research has established an inverse relationship between religiosity and delinquency among adolescents, with particularly noteworthy effects observed for illicit substance use. These patterns correspond with the expectations of social bond theory and situational action theory, which posit that commitment to conventional religious norms can reduce youths' exposure to, and inform their experiences with, delinquent opportunities. However, little empirical attention has been given to youths' beliefs surrounding the nature of morality itself, which are theoretically expected to moderate the protective effects of religious salience. Specifically, while religious salience might have a general controlling influence on adolescents' use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, holding beliefs in moral relativism (i.e., the absence of definitive rights and wrongs) or moral contextualism (i.e., that rights and wrongs are fluid and dynamic) might weaken these inhibiting effects. Using data on a nationally representative sample of adolescents from the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 3,170), this study's analyses reveal that the association between religious salience and substance use is conditioned by moral contextualism but not moral relativism, though this interactive relationship is found only for alcohol use and drunkenness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abundance of research has revealed that religious salience is negatively associated with delinquent behavior, including illicit substance use. However, absent from prior work is a consideration of whether youths' participation in personal religious rituals and acts of devotion might amplify the protective effects of religiosity. Theoretically, it may be expected that these private expressions of belief and identity can strengthen religious commitments and reaffirm membership within specific moral communities. Using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion on a nationally representative sample of adolescents ages 13 to 17 (N = 3,170), these findings reveal that religious salience inhibits cigarette use, alcohol use, drunkenness, and marijuana use, but only among youth who engage in at least some pious practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on the criminal court punishment of transferred youth relative to adult defendants has produced mixed findings; however, these disparities have not been examined in the context of intermediate and alternative sanctions. In Florida, judges have the discretion to assign a split sentence, which involves a mitigated term of imprisonment followed by a sentence to community supervision. Using data on felony cases sentenced under Florida's Criminal Punishment Code (N = 704,977), these results provide evidence of a "youth discount," with juveniles more likely than adults to receive split sentences. However, this pattern is observed regardless of whether a prison sentence is recommended by the guidelines, that is, even among cases in which a split sentence represents an upward departure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive body of research suggests that youth of color are more likely to experience an arrest than their White counterparts. Theoretically, these findings have been understood, at least in part, as the result of the differential deployment of law enforcement to areas with higher Black and Hispanic concentrations as well as stereotyped attributions of dangerousness and threat implicitly assigned to these suspects by police before and during encounters. However, previous studies typically have employed conventional racial/ethnic categorizations, which might obscure potential nuances in arrest disparities across subgroups. Using data on a statewide representative sample of adolescents from the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 54,611), these analyses reveal that the likelihood of a self-reported arrest is greatest among Haitian, West Indian/Caribbean, Dominican, and non-Hispanic Black youth. Further, Mexican and Puerto Rican adolescents have a higher risk of experiencing an arrest than members of other Hispanic subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much prior work has revealed that minority students are more likely than White youth to experience school suspensions, expulsions, and office referrals. However, the research establishing these patterns has relied exclusively on regression-based methods, which may not ensure adequate between-group balance on the measured covariates. Using data from the 2012 to 2019 8th/10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey (N = 62,962), this study compares the treatment effects estimated following coarsened exact matching (CEM) with those generated using conventional methods on unmatched data. The results from both sets of analyses reveal notable effects of race but less consistent findings for Hispanic ethnicity. Further, while the effect sizes are similar, the average adjusted predictions from the matched data are more modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much scholarship has discussed how the expansion of the carceral state in the U.S. has consequences for other facets of the democracy. Specifically, felony disenfranchisement laws create a class of "carceral citizens" comprised disproportionately of racially minoritized individuals, and voter ID laws likewise closely mirror racialized segregation efforts that parallel the effects of justice system policies. Despite these clear theoretical linkages, little research has examined whether the anti-welfarism, anti-immigrant attitudes, and symbolic racism which fuel public punitiveness similarly increase support for voting restrictions. Further, it is unknown whether punitiveness itself intervenes in these relationships. Analyses of data from the 2020 American National Election Survey (N = 7,453) reveal considerable overlap between the sources of both punitiveness and voting restriction policies, and punitiveness sets an indirect path through which these social sensibilities influence support for voting restrictions. Further, party-specific analyses reveal that these associations generally are stronger for Democrats than Republicans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, sleep duration has received increased scrutiny with respect to criminologically relevant outcomes. No attention, however, has been given to the possible relationship between sleep duration and the likelihood of arrest. Given the negative downstream effects that arrest may have on adolescents, this is an important relationship to investigate. To this end, the current study uses data from the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N=49,360), and the results indicate that severe sleep deficiencies are positively associated with self-reported arrest, whereas minor deficiencies and excess sleep are not. Discussion focuses on the implications and limitations of these findings as well as a call for better integration of health behaviors into criminological analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study explores the effects of racial/ethnic identity on youths' likelihood of receiving a suspension from school as well as whether these disparities further vary by gender. In light of recent demographic shifts within the U.S., alternative theoretical rationales emphasizing such issues as "exotic threat," "stereotype lift," and "reflected race" present conflicting expectations regarding whether and how the disadvantages in school discipline experienced generally by minority students might extend to youth in certain Hispanic and Caribbean subgroups. Methods: We analyze data from the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, which provides a large statewide representative sample of youth enrolled in Florida public middle and high schools (N = 54,611). Results: Youth who are Black/non-Hispanic, Haitian, West Indian/Caribbean, and Dominican are most likely to receive a suspension from school, and these effects are particularly pronounced among female students. Mixed evidence of Hispanic-White differences in suspension is found, except for a heightened risk among Puerto Rican youth. Conclusions: Some of the findings imply the importance of skin tone and appearance over subgroup-specific perceptions of cultural or criminal threat. However, the disadvantages experienced by Puerto Rican students may represent an institutional response to their unique status as recent migrants to Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has established that individuals lower in self-control are at increased risk of offline criminal victimization due to their proclivity to engage in risky routine activities. While some studies have investigated whether a similar pattern is observed in the online context, additional inquiry into whether the link between low self-control and cybercrime victimization operates indirectly through risky online behavior is warranted given certain measurement and methodological limitations of prior research. Using original data collected on a sample of young adults, we find that the association between low self-control and a variety measure of cybercrime victimization operates entirely and indirectly through a variety measure of risky online behaviors. The implications of this finding for policy and programing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small but growing body of research has explored how juveniles transferred to the criminal court are sentenced relative to adult defendants, but the findings from this literature have been complex and inconsistent. A noteworthy line of inquiry that to date has received only limited attention is how crime type might moderate these relationships. Theoretically, according to the liberation hypothesis, primary offense type corresponds closely with the exercise of judicial discretion, and court actors' decision-making is most likely to be informed by extralegal offender-based attributions in the disposition of less serious cases. The goal of the present study is to extend this literature by exploring the main and interactive effects of juvenile status and crime type on adult court punishment outcomes among defendants sentenced for seven violent felony offenses. Using data from Florida circuit courts (N = 198,362), the findings show that, regarding sentencing to prison, transferred youth are consistently punished more severely than adult defendants among the three least serious crime types. However, juveniles receive shorter prison terms than adults for most violent offenses, and these disparities are greatest among murder, manslaughter, and robbery/carjacking cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has provided consistent evidence that minority students are more likely than White youth to experience punitive forms of discipline in schools. Scholars have theorized that these disadvantages are closely connected to gender and socioeconomic status, but little research has explored how these factors independently and jointly might moderate the effects of race/ethnicity. Using data from the 2012 to 2018 8th and 10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey (N = 53,986), these analyses find that minority students are more likely than Whites to experience suspension/expulsion and office referrals, and this pattern is especially prominent among females. Further, racial/ethnic disparities are amplified for youth whose parents have higher levels of educational attainment, though some differences by gender also emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research consistently finds that unstructured socializing with peers and low self-control are both positively associated with substance use among adolescents. However, largely absent from the literature is a consideration of whether unstructured socializing with peers and low self-control have differential and interactive effects when predicting usage of different classifications of drugs. The current study addresses these issues using data collected on a statewide sample of middle school and high school students who participated in the 2017 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. Results indicate that (1) unstructured socializing with peers is a stronger predictor of soft drug use than low self-control, (2) low self-control is a stronger predictor of hard drug use than unstructured socializing with peers, and (3) the effect of unstructured socializing on both soft and hard drug use is diminished among adolescents who are lower in self-control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive body of research has revealed that criminal defendants who are convicted at trials are given harsher sentences than those who plead guilty. However, it remains unclear how legally relevant case characteristics might moderate this relationship. In Florida, each felony offender is assigned a comprehensive numerical score which simultaneously quantifies multiple aspects of the seriousness of the case at hand, and judges evaluate this score in reference to the prescribed sentencing guideline recommendations. Analyses of data on defendants sentenced under this system (N = 690,565) reveal that, for sentences to prison, trial-plea disparities are greatest in the middle range of case seriousness. For prison sentence length, however, these differences are most amplified among the most serious cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]