NEW REPORT REVEALS SHARP RACIAL DISPARITIES IN NATION'S JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

Nation's Leading Civil Rights Groups and Building Blocks for Youth Initiative Call on Presidential Candidates, State and Federal Governments to Address Racial Unfairness in Juvenile System WHAT: Washington, DC, Press Conference
WHERE: National Press Club, Washington, DC
WHEN: 9:30 a.m.. E.D.T. April 25, 2000
WHAT: National Telephone Press Conference
WHEN: 12:30 p.m. E.D.T., April 25, 2000
WHERE: For dial-in information call 415-255-1946
WHO:

Hilary Shelton, Director, NAACP's Washington Bureau;

Dr. William E. Spriggs, Director of Research and Public Policy, National Urban League;

Brent Wilkes, National Executive Director, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC);

Mark Soler, spokesperson, Building Blocks for Youth and President of the Youth Law Center;

Hiewet Senghor, National Director, NAACP Youth & College Division;

Michael Jones, Senior Researcher and Director of Forecasting, National Council on Crime & Delinquency

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Civil rights groups and the Building Blocks for Youth initiative will call for immediate action to address racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. The groups are responding to a comprehensive new report that reveals that youth of color experience more severe treatment than their white peers at every stage of the juvenile justice process - putting them at a "cumulative disadvantage" that has led to a devastating over-representation of minority youth in confinement across the nation.

When white youth and minority youth were charged with the same offenses, African-American youth with no prior admissions were six times more likely to be incarcerated in public facilities than white youth with the same background. Latino youth were three times more likely than white youth to be incarcerated.

The report, "And Justice For Some," was commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, a national project to address unfairness in the juvenile justice system and promote rational and effective justice policies. Prepared by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), the nation's oldest criminal justice think-tank, the report is the most complete and up-to-date comparison of state and federal data on arrest, referral, detention, case processing, waiver to adult court and incarceration, to build a comprehensive view of the treatment of youth of color in the justice system.

"We find that this report leaves no doubt that we are faced with a very serious national civil rights issue, virtually making our system juvenile injustice," says Hugh B. Price, President and CEO of the National Urban League. "What is most disturbing is the pervasive nature of the discriminatory treatment of minority youth at each stage of the juvenile justice system."

Leaders from the NAACP, LULAC and the National Urban League will join the report's authors at a Washington, D.C. press conference and a national telephone press conference on April 25th. Leaders from the NAACP Youth & College Division, who recently conducted site visits to juvenile facilities across the nation as part of their first National Action Day on Juvenile Justice, will report back on their findings at the same time.

"This report paints a devastating picture of a system that has totally failed to uphold the American promise of 'equal justice for all'," says Mark Soler, President of the Youth Law Center and head of the Building Blocks for Youth initiative. "Justice for some wasn't enough at the start of the civil rights era, and it's not enough now. Our message to state and federal leaders is clear: address this problem now."

"We're calling for immediate action in response to this disturbing new report of disparate treatment of Latino and other youth of color in the juvenile justice system," said Brent Wilkes, National Executive Director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). "We are urging states and the federal government to take immediate steps to gather more accurate data on Latino youth and make it a priority to address these issues now."

"Eradicating discrimination in the juvenile justice system is the next big battle for civil rights leaders, and this battle starts now," says Hiewet Senghor, National Director, NAACP Youth & College Division. "We're calling on Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush to make us a pledge: that if elected President, they will take concrete steps to eliminate this double-standard of justice that's devastating our communities."

"This report shows that youth of color are over-represented at each point in the system and that this disadvantage accumulates as they move through the system," says Michael Jones, co-author of the report and Senior Researcher at NCCD. "Minority youth are more likely to be referred to juvenile court, be detained, face trial as adults and go to jail than white youth who commit comparable crimes. This makes kids of color much more likely to spend their formative years behind bars."

Among the other key findings of the report:

• In every offense category - person, property, drug, public order - a substantially greater percentage of African-American youth were detained than white youth.
• Minority youth are overrepresented in the detained population in nearly all states.
• African-American youth are more likely to be formally charged in juvenile court than white youth, even when referred for the same offense.
• Minority youth were much more likely to be waived from juvenile court to adult criminal court than white youth, even when charged with the same offenses. This was true in every offense category.
• When white youth and minority youth were charged with the same offenses, African-American youth with no prior admissions were six times more likely to be incarcerated in public facilities than white youth with the same background. Latino youth were three times more likely than white youth to be incarcerated.
• Nationally, custody rates were five times greater for African American youth than for white youth. Custody rates for Latino and Native American youth were two times the custody rate of white youth.
• In 1997, 7,400 new admissions to adult prisons involved youth under the age of 18. Three out of four of these youth were minorities.