EMBARGOED UNTIL 12:01 am July 18, 2002 

Contact: Marie Watteau
202-293-2828
mwatteau@maldef.org

 

(Washington, D.C.) MALDEF, the nation’s premier Latino civil rights organization, participated today in the release of a new report commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth Initiative. The report, ¿Dónde Está la Justicia? A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S. Justice System,” highlights the problem of Latino youth being over-represented in the U.S. juvenile justice system and receiving harsher treatment that white youth, even when charged with the same offenses. There are 35 million Latinos living in the U.S. according to Census 2000, Latino youth represent the largest minority population for people 18 years and younger. Because of the size and population of our community, the racial disparities that exist for Latino youth in the juvenile justice system are a national problem.

MALDEF believes it is unacceptable that current means for collecting and accessing data on Latino youth are inadequate, resulting in undercounting and inaccuracies in reporting the disproportionate representation and disparate treatment of Latino youth in the criminal justice system.

“We know that Latino youth receive disparate and harsher treatment in our juvenile justice system, but we still don’t know the full extent of the harm,” said MALDEF’s President and General Counsel Antonia Hernandez. “One of our basic demands is that data be kept in a uniform and consistent way on Latino youth in the juvenile justice system. The system will never be fair to our children if it cannot even provide an accurate picture of how they are faring.”

Finally, Latino youth face some different issues from their peers; for many Latino children immigration issues arise and language needs are not being met. Many Latino children are detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) without being charged with any crime. Children who have not committed a crime are locked away with delinquent youth and sometimes in adult jails. In addition, many INS and juvenile detention facilities are not staffed with bilingual staff; leaving a growing number of limited English proficient children and their parents with no way to communicate with staff.

“When immigrant children who have not committed a crime are locked away in secure juvenile detention centers and even adult jails, this is an injustice,” said Marisa Demeo, Regional Counsel for MALDEF in Washington, D.C. “When children and parents who have limited English skills cannot understand staffs who only speak English, the system fails to serve them properly.”

The report brings to the surface a national problem that has always existed but is only now being brought into the spotlight. MALDEF strongly believes that this is a national problem that demands national solutions through cooperative efforts from the private sector and government.