July 19, 2002
SANTA CRUZ — While a new study shows a
disproportionate number of Latinos are in the nation’s juvenile-justice
systems, it says Santa Cruz County may be starting to reverse the trend.
The percentage of Latinos in Juvenile Hall has
declined somewhat in Santa Cruz County, from 53 percent in 1999 to 49.7
percent in 2001.
"It still should be less, but it’s
promising," said Deena Lahn, director of the Children’s Defense Fund,
which conducted the study.
Population figures show the county still has a long
way to go. In 2000, Latinos made up just 26.8 percent of the county’s
population, but 50 percent of the Juvenile Hall population.
Still, local officials say they have been taking
specific steps to bring the percentage more in line with the population.
According to the study, Latinos across the country are
being arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated disproportionately for the same
crimes committed by whites.
Lahn said a lack of services for non-English-speaking
families creates barriers that keep Latino youths in the system longer, and
leads to harsher penalties than white children receive.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Steve Belcher said such issues
are exactly what a county task force has spent the past few years studying.
The group of officers, probation officials and Latino
activist groups looked at every "point of decision" where officers
can cite and release a juvenile or book them. Another point of decision is
reached by a judge, who can release a child before a hearing or keep the child
in Juvenile Hall.
Belcher said most of the issues that were found did
not affect officers on the street. Rather, the disparity mostly stems from
socioeconomic factors, such as a lack of bilingual guards, lack of telephones
in migrant communities and lack of transportation to Juvenile Hall, which led
to the juveniles being incarcerated longer.
Scott Macdonald, the county Probation Office’s
juvenile division director, said poverty may lead to some groups committing
certain crimes more often. But the office has sought to make sure Latino and
white children receive the same treatment for similar crimes, he said.
In recent years, Macdonald said, juvenile probation
officers have been trying alternatives to release more Latinos from the hall,
when ordinarily they may have been held for trial.
He said ideas such as home supervision and using an
electronic monitor have been successful. Most of the released juveniles have
not committed further crimes, he said, and have shown up for court.
Using state grants, Macdonald said, the probation
office has also started a $250,000 residential drug and alcohol treatment
program next to Juvenile Hall in Felton, to help treat juveniles who may have
committed their crimes because of drug habits.
One thing he’s discovered in studying the problem is
that the deeper a kid gets into the system, the more disproportionate it gets.
He said the California Youth Authority, the juvenile equivalent of the state
prison system, is much more predominantly Latino than the Santa Cruz County
Juvenile Hall.
Contact Jason Schultz at
