Juvenile Incarceration

Running head: FINAL PROJECT: JUVENILE INCARCERATION

Final Project: Juvenile Incarceration

Roshon Green, Jessica Mays, Karen McCord

University of Phoenix

Final Project: Juvenile Incarceration

Statement of Problem

The purpose of the juvenile incarceration project is to gain insights into whether or not parental incarceration is related to juvenile incarceration. The research problem is the loss is the cost of incarceration to the state or society. Incarceration is expensive with costs to society for the crimes committed and the resulting confinement of the convicted offenders. This research hopes to diminish this problem by determining a correlation between juvenile offenders and whether or not their parents were previously or currently incarcerated.

Research Question

The research question asks if there is a difference in incarcerated juvenile rates as measured by whether their parents were ever incarcerated or never incarcerated.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge, gaining insight in regards to juvenile incarceration factors.

Background

Secondary research

Variable definitions

Nominal data: parents are either incarcerated or not incarcerated

Level of Measurement

A research sample consisting of 41 incarcerated juveniles was selected for this study. (Sample size n=41). Total population of the juvenile facility (name)

Null and Alternative Hypothesis

The null hypothesis is that parental incarceration does not affect juvenile incarceration. The alternative hypothesis is that parental incarceration does affect juvenile incarceration.

Ho = parental incarceration does not affect juvenile incarceration

H1 = parental incarceration does affect juvenile incarceration.

Error Type 1 вЂ" Reject Ho when Ho is true

Error Type 2 вЂ" Fail to reject Ho when Ho is false

Alpha Level of Significance

Alpha level of significance = .05. Explanation

Research Design

A quasi-experimental, random research design was utilized. The primary focus of the study was incarcerated juveniles. This research group determined that the survey was necessary to collect non-observational data. The survey included two questions:

• Are one or both of your parents incarcerated? Yes  No

• What is your gender? Check one:  Male  Female

п‚® Primary research

Data Collection

The data for this project was collected by administering an anonymous survey to incarcerated juveniles at (name of facility), the (name) receiving center and at the NAACP office in Sacramento, California. The survey asked for gender and parental status (incarcerated versus not incarcerated). Participants were given a paper survey and a pencil to complete the survey. See Appendix for a copy of the survey.