Date of Award
1-1-2009
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences
First Advisor
Roy Wood, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Susan Manning
Third Advisor
Christina Foust
Fourth Advisor
Kate Willink
Keywords
Racism, Bias, Child welfare systems, Racism, Juvenile justice and racism
Abstract
Reports indicate that in the United States disproportionate numbers of African American children are represented in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Studies also indicate disparities in the provision of services to African American young people. Some researchers claim that poverty is the cause. Others blame the high incidence of single-parent families. Others contend that individuals' biases and our racist systems are to blame. While it is almost certain that each of the aforementioned causes and many other factors contribute to disparate outcomes and the overrepresentation of African Americans in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, this project presupposes that causation is deeply rooted and intricately interconnected with the history of racism and injustice by the child protective system towards African American people.
Indeed, examining respondent parents, child protective services workers, attorneys and judges lived experiences within the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, this qualitative study contends that a major cause for the disparities and disproportionalities is the correlation between race and the social cognition processes that subconsciously occurs within all communicants and is enacted through their communication. The process in which individuals exchange information provides entry into one of many potential areas of study that have previously received little attention from researchers related to the issue of disparities and disproportionalities. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, this study relies on in-depth, semi-structured interviews to collect and analyze the data.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Debra Ann Mixon Mitchell
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
124 p.
Recommended Citation
Mixon Mitchell, Debra Ann, "The Child Protection Juvenile Court Process from a Communication Perspective: A Glimpse Behind the Veil of Objectivity Reveals That Race Matters" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 437.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/437
Copyright date
2009
Discipline
Public policy, Social work