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Drugs and Disparity: The Racial Impact of Illinois' Practice
of Transferring Young Drug Offenders to Adult Court: Fact Sheet
Printable Version
Background
Illinois' automatic transfer laws mandate that 15- and 16-year-old youth charged with a drug offense that occurs within 1,000 feet of a school or public housing project are automatically tried in adult court. While White youth use and sell drugs at similar or higher rates than youth of color, the impact of the law has almost wholly affected African American and Latino youth.
The National Context
White youth sell and use drugs at the same, or higher rates than youth of color
- The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reports that White youth aged 12-17 are more than a third more likely to have sold drugs than African-American youth.
- The National Institute of Drug Abuse survey of high school seniors for 1998/1999 shows that White students use cocaine at 7 to 8 times the rate of African American students, and heroin at 7 times the rate of African American students.
Youth of color are arrested and imprisoned at higher rates for drug crimes
- The proportion of adult prison admissions for youth convicted of drug offenses was three times greater for African-American youth than White youth.
- Among youth who have of youth admitted to a secure facility for the first time, the rate of commitment for drug offenses for African-Americans was 48 times that of Whites, and for Latino youth, was 13 times that of Whites.
- The mean length of stay in state correctional facilities for drug offenses for African-American youth was 90 days longer than that for White youth. The mean length of stay for Latino youth was 160 days longer than that for White youth.
The National Disparity in Youth Prosecution in Adult Court for Drug Crimes is Amplified in Illinois.
- Regional and Racial Disparity
- Between 1985 and 1999,the number of juveniles arrested for drug offenses in Illinois tripled, and 61% of all juvenile drug arrests in the state occurred in Chicago.
- Ninety-two percent of all the youth automatically transferred to adult court in Illinois were from Cook County, and 88.2% of the counties did not automatically exclude any youth from juvenile court.
- While African American youth make up 15.3% of Illinois' youth population, African American youth are 59% of youth arrested for drug crimes, 85.5% of youth automatically transferred to adult court, 88% of the youth imprisoned for drug crimes statewide, and 91% of youth admitted to state prison from Cook County.
- Only Youth of Color Impacted
- 99.2% of the youth automatically transferred to adult court for drug crimes in Cook County between 1995 and 1999 were youth of color.
- 99% of the youth transferred to adult court in Cook County in 1999-2000, for all crimes, were youth of color.
- 99% of the youth transferred to adult court in Cook County for drug crimes in 1999-2000 were youth of color
- 99% of all the youth imprisoned for drug crimes from Cook County in 1996 were non-White.
- An Adult Drug Conviction Robs Youth of Second Chances
- Most of the youth tried as adults for drug crimes did not have a chance to benefit from programs and services available in the juvenile justice system. Fifty-nine percent of the youth transferred for drug offenses from Cook County in 1999-2000 had no previous juvenile court contact or services.
- Most of the youth transferred for drug offenses received adult probation, which provides less supervision and rehabilitative services than in the juvenile justice system.
- An adult felony record will act as an economic and educational roadblock throughout their lives. This year, 20,000 may lose the opportunity for federal higher education financial aid after revealing that they have a drug conviction.
For more information and sources, see Drugs and Disparity: The Racial Impact of Illinois' Practice of Transferring Young Drug Offenders to Adult Court.
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