Blog: Disproportionate Minority Contact

Reasons why I am proud to write this blog post...

Reason 1: My former colleagues (and friends) at The University of Arizona, Southwest Institute for Research on Women (UA SIROW) (UA SIROW) have been leading the efforts on the national evaluation of Juvenile Drug Courts and Juvenile Drug Courts blended with Reclaiming Futures (JDC/RF).  UA SIROW collaborated with Chestnut Health Systems and Carnevale Associates, LLC to implement a comprehensive evaluation that included data from Juvenile Drug Courts, Juvenile Drugs Courts blended with Reclaiming Futures, and non-justice related intensive adolescent outpatient programs. The purpose was to examine processes, outcomes, and costs.

The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE) recently launched a new section of its Resource Hub on racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. Via the website:

Step into juvenile delinquency courts throughout the country, and you will usually find the number of children of color who appear there are far out of proportion to their numbers in the surrounding community. For decades, they have been over-represented (and treated more harshly for the same behavior as their non-Hispanic white counterparts) at every stage of the delinquency process – from arrest, to secure detention, confinement, and transfer to the adult system. The causes are varied and have often proved resistant to change.
However, in recent years, better data collection and analysis in many localities has helped spur the development of strategies to reduce disparities among youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. This work is paving the way for a more equitable juvenile justice system that will treat youth fairly regardless of their race or ethnicity.
The Racial-Ethnic Fairness section of the Resource Hub will provide you with an overview of salient issues and links to information on each approach, as well as the most recent research, cutting edge reforms, model policies, best practices, links to experts, and toolkits to take action.

A recent assessment of disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in Washington state reveals key areas to address as well as standout practices in the pursuit of a more fair and equal juvenile justice system.
For more than a decade, states have been required to regularly assess DMC, unequal rates of minority contact with the justice system relative to the population. The goal is to identify problem areas so that youth in the juvenile justice system are provided with treatment not based on race and ethnicity.
The 2013 report highlights a number of promising practices, first and foremost two programs: the Annie E. Casey Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative and the MacArthur Foundation Models for Change Initiative. These identification and reduction efforts are credited with changes to policies and practices that likely reduce disproportionality. To realize such success, the report stresses the importance of a multi-pronged strategy that considers practice and policy change, community engagement, data analysis and interpretation, program implementation and trainings.
Other promising practices for DMC identification and reduction noted include efforts to increase awareness of and action about DMC; programs to provide alternatives to arrest by providing youth with culturally-relevant and community-based services; and evidence-based behavioral health programs for youth in juvenile justice.
The assessment also emphasizes the following findings regarding DMC in-state, which may prove applicable in other communities:

Dr. Callie Burt, assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, recently published a report with her colleagues, Ronald L. Simons and Frederick X. Gibbons, linking racial discrimination with criminal behavior. The paper, Racial Discrimination, Ethnic-Racial Socialization, and Crime, reported that experiencing more racial discrimination was linked to a higher risk of crime, specifically in African-American males.
Burt set out to take another look at racism in interpersonal violence and crime to answer the question, what is it about racist actions that can cause an increased risk of crime later in life? She found that racial discrimination primarily does four things to individuals:

The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division's recent investigation of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County Tennessee is a "must read" for youth justice advocates, especially as it relates to racial and ethnic disparities and the prosecution of youth in adult criminal court.

The DOJ's extensive investigation, which began nearly three years ago, found a failure to provide adequate due process protections for children before transferring them to adult criminal court and racial disparities in the treatment of African-American children. The report shows that an African-American child is twice as likely as a white child to be recommended for transfer to adult court. Of the 390 transfers to adult court in 2010 in Tennessee, approximately one half were from Shelby County, and all but two of the total children transferred were African-American.

“This report is a step toward our goal of improving the juvenile court, increasing the public’s confidence in the juvenile justice system, and maintaining public safety,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at a press conference when the report was released. “Upholding the constitutional rights of children appearing before the court is necessary to achieve these ends. The department will work with Memphis leadership to create a comprehensive blueprint that will create sustainable reforms in the juvenile justice system.”

Recently, the U.S. Department of Education released a study documenting disproportionality in rates of suspensions and expulsions in public schools across the United States.
The report, which covered 72,000 schools across the United States, states that African-Americans only make up 18 percent of youth at the studied schools, but 35 percent of students suspended once and 39 percent of those expelled.
These findings mirror one aspect of a Texas study released last year, which found that African-American students in Texas were 31 percent more likely to be disciplined in school, at least once, than otherwise identical Caucasian or Hispanic students.
Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board looked at these findings and deduced that this highlights the need for increased school choice. Just as importantly, it highlights another education reform priority – the overcriminalization of students of all races.
As zero tolerance policies have increased in both scope and consequences (now covering fish oil dietary supplements, asthma inhalers, oregano, and butter knives), more and more minor misbehavior spurs referrals to the justice system or triggers suspensions, when it previously would have been handled through parental involvement or traditional disciplinary methods, such as a visit to the principal’s office, after-school detention, or requiring the student to perform school or community service.