Fountain Erika N, Mahmoudi Dillon
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 2021 Mar;67(1-2):116-129. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12474. Epub 2020 Nov 29.
The majority of justice-involved youth are placed on probation; however, many of those same youth struggle to comply with probation requirements and are subsequently confined. In Baltimore, 20% of newly committed youth were detained for violations of probation. While there are various reasons youth fail to comply with probation requirements, there have been recent calls to consider the impact of structural and spatial barriers to accessing probation programs and services. Centering the goals of community psychology, we aim to identify how existing structural barriers in Baltimore City may be contributing to social injustice through inequitable access to probation services for youth and their families. In this study, we take a novel, interdisciplinary approach to identify structural or spatial barriers facing justice-involved youth in Baltimore, MD. Specifically, we explore transportation barriers (i.e., vehicle access) and spatial disparities between youth residences and probation office locations. Our findings suggest that there are several barriers facing Baltimore's justice-involved youth that may impact access to and engagement with juvenile probation. Specifically, we found that 1 in 3 youths reside in areas with extremely low levels of vehicle access and where the median household income is 25% below the city median. We also find that the majority of youth live beyond walking distances; many would require lengthy transit commutes. These findings highlight the structural and spatial barriers facing justice-involved youth that may impact access to and engagement with probation services.
大多数涉及司法事务的青少年被置于缓刑期；然而，这些青少年中的许多人难以遵守缓刑要求，随后被监禁。在巴尔的摩，20%新被定罪的青少年因违反缓刑规定而被拘留。虽然青少年未能遵守缓刑要求有多种原因，但最近有人呼吁考虑结构性和空间性障碍对获得缓刑项目和服务的影响。围绕社区心理学的目标，我们旨在确定巴尔的摩市现有的结构性障碍如何通过青少年及其家庭获得缓刑服务的不公平现象导致社会不公正。在本研究中，我们采用一种新颖的跨学科方法来确定马里兰州巴尔的摩市涉及司法事务的青少年所面临的结构性或空间性障碍。具体而言，我们探讨交通障碍（即车辆使用情况）以及青少年住所与缓刑办公室地点之间的空间差异。我们的研究结果表明，巴尔的摩市涉及司法事务的青少年面临着若干可能影响获得少年缓刑及参与缓刑事务的障碍。具体而言，我们发现三分之一的青少年居住在车辆使用水平极低的地区，这些地区的家庭收入中位数比城市中位数低25%。我们还发现，大多数青少年居住的地方步行无法到达；许多人需要长时间乘坐公共交通工具通勤。这些研究结果凸显了涉及司法事务的青少年所面临的结构性和空间性障碍，这些障碍可能影响获得缓刑服务及参与缓刑事务。
