Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Public Administration (D.P.A)

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Mark Starik

Abstract

In 2018, The Juvenile Center in St. Louis, Missouri acknowledged that they needed to decrease the racial disparity in the numbers and percentages of Black youths who were overrepresented compared to White youths at the front-end intake step of the facility. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight as to whether there were alternative actions for police officers after they arrested the youths but before they referred them to the front-end intake step of The Juvenile Center. The main method of collecting data was an ethnographic interview in the form of a questionnaire to gather the community relations concepts and roles of the police department and The Juvenile Center. The study included nine police officers and five deputy juvenile officers who were interviewed through the Zoom platform. This study was framed as a community-based approach with six different strategies: (a) community empowerment, (b) private and public support, (c) social bonding support, (d) police accountability, (e) juvenile system accountability, and (f) cultural training. Systematic narrative trends were analyzed, coded, and identified within the qualitative data. The findings from the thematic analysis demonstrated that the youths needed accessibility to youth clubs and positive relationships between youths and police officers. Also, the police officers needed education on the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative efforts and the Juvenile Detention Assessment Tool used during The Juvenile Center’s referral process. The findings from this professional administrative study may be used to promote positive social change through developing policies and procedures on police referrals, parent(s) involvement, and community partnerships and engagement based on the efforts of The Juvenile Center.

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