The primary question of importance in this current study is what factors affect judges' dispositional rulings in a small rural Central Kentucky county. In order to evaluate these factors, this study involved a two stage process. The quantitative data were gathered from 120 Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) files dating back to 1999 that were processed through the study site small county court. The qualitative data were gathered through a series of structured interviews with court personnel. This current study provides descriptive statistics of the study cases that have been adjudicated delinquent with respect to their legal and extralegal characteristics, and their dispositional rulings. Additionally, this study examines the bivariate associations between legal and extralegal factors and judges' dispositional rulings. Finally, this study examines some prediction models that allow for estimating the odds that an adjudicated delinquent will receive various types of dispositional outcomes. By evaluating both quantitative and qualitative data, the consensus was reached that school performance and whether or not a juvenile had past probation were the main predictive factors in which the judges' based their decisions at the time of disposition on.
","abstract_html":"<p>The primary question of importance in this current study is what factors affect judges' dispositional rulings in a small rural Central Kentucky county. In order to evaluate these factors, this study involved a two stage process. The quantitative data were gathered from 120 Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) files dating back to 1999 that were processed through the study site small county court. The qualitative data were gathered through a series of structured interviews with court personnel. This current study provides descriptive statistics of the study cases that have been adjudicated delinquent with respect to their legal and extralegal characteristics, and their dispositional rulings. Additionally, this study examines the bivariate associations between legal and extralegal factors and judges' dispositional rulings. Finally, this study examines some prediction models that allow for estimating the odds that an adjudicated delinquent will receive various types of dispositional outcomes. By evaluating both quantitative and qualitative data, the consensus was reached that school performance and whether or not a juvenile had past probation were the main predictive factors in which the judges' based their decisions at the time of disposition on. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kirk, Kevin Lee"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Justice Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:13Z","subjects":["Case Study Juvenile Court","Factors in Court Dispositions","Factors in Dispositions","Juvenile Court","Juvenile Dispositions","Juvenile Justice","Criminology and Criminal Justice","Juvenile Law"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2011 Kevin Lee Kirk"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/38","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kirk, Kevin Lee"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Justice Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Case Study Juvenile Court","Factors in Court Dispositions","Factors in Dispositions","Juvenile Court","Juvenile Dispositions","Juvenile Justice","Criminology and Criminal Justice","Juvenile Law"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2011 Kevin Lee Kirk"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/38"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The primary question of importance in this current study is what factors affect judges' dispositional rulings in a small rural Central Kentucky county. In order to evaluate these factors, this study involved a two stage process. The quantitative data were gathered from 120 Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) files dating back to 1999 that were processed through the study site small county court. The qualitative data were gathered through a series of structured interviews with court personnel. This current study provides descriptive statistics of the study cases that have been adjudicated delinquent with respect to their legal and extralegal characteristics, and their dispositional rulings. Additionally, this study examines the bivariate associations between legal and extralegal factors and judges' dispositional rulings. Finally, this study examines some prediction models that allow for estimating the odds that an adjudicated delinquent will receive various types of dispositional outcomes. By evaluating both quantitative and qualitative data, the consensus was reached that school performance and whether or not a juvenile had past probation were the main predictive factors in which the judges' based their decisions at the time of disposition on.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Factors in Juvenile Court Dispositions: Case Study of a Rural Juvenile Court"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Kirk, Kevin Lee"],"dc:description.abstract":["The primary question of importance in this current study is what factors affect judges' dispositional rulings in a small rural Central Kentucky county. In order to evaluate these factors, this study involved a two stage process. The quantitative data were gathered from 120 Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) files dating back to 1999 that were processed through the study site small county court. The qualitative data were gathered through a series of structured interviews with court personnel. This current study provides descriptive statistics of the study cases that have been adjudicated delinquent with respect to their legal and extralegal characteristics, and their dispositional rulings. Additionally, this study examines the bivariate associations between legal and extralegal factors and judges' dispositional rulings. Finally, this study examines some prediction models that allow for estimating the odds that an adjudicated delinquent will receive various types of dispositional outcomes. By evaluating both quantitative and qualitative data, the consensus was reached that school performance and whether or not a juvenile had past probation were the main predictive factors in which the judges' based their decisions at the time of disposition on.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/38"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2011 Kevin Lee Kirk"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Case Study Juvenile Court","Factors in Court Dispositions","Factors in Dispositions","Juvenile Court","Juvenile Dispositions","Juvenile Justice","Criminology and Criminal Justice","Juvenile Law"],"dc:title":["Factors in Juvenile Court Dispositions: Case Study of a Rural Juvenile Court"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Justice Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:13Z"}