Juvenile offenders' diversion potential as a function of police perceptions

The study concerns the relationship of police perception of arrested male juveniles to potential police diversion (operationally defined by perception of juveniles as deserving lenient treatment). Arresting officers (n = 102) from 20 police stations provided structured reports on 174 juveniles, covering 27 questions that police considered important in encounters with juvenile offenders. Of 16 independent variables suitable for analysis, only 4 were significantly related to diversion potential when other variables were held constant (multiple regression analysis). Only 26% of the potential's variance was accounted for by the 16 variables jointly. Factor analysis yielded six latent dimensions (orthogonal factors) of police perception of juvenile offenders: offensive behavior, conformity of appearance, delinquent background, nonserious offense, favorable impression, single offender. All dimensions except "delinquent background" were significantly related to diversion potential, and an empirical rationale could be found for three of these relationships. The findings are discussed critically. It is concluded that the importance of interpersonal variables in police encounters with juveniles might be less than has been suggested in the literature.