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Over-incarceration of youth of color
And Justice For Some: Differential Treatment of Minority Youth in the Justice System, prepared by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), is the most complete and up-to-date collection of state and federal data on arrest, referral, detention, case processing, waiver to adult court, and incarceration, building a comprehensive view of the treatment of youth of color in the justice system. Among the key findings, the report shows that youth of color are overrepresented and receive disparate treatment at every stage of the juvenile justice system.
A Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Youth Crime and Detention Rates in Maryland & D.C.
by Lisa Feldman, Michael Males, and Vincent Schiraldi
A Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Youth Crime and Detention Rates in Maryland and the District of Columbia finds that the District of Columbia had a much sharper drop in violent youth crime rates than the state of Maryland in the 1990's, even though Maryland's use of pretrial juvenile detention increased and the District's use of detention dropped substantially. The comparison of the District and Maryland suggests that cities and states can reduce locked detention without jeopardizing public safety. During the 1990's, the District sharply reduced its juvenile detention rate by 71 percent, while Maryland's detention rate rose 3 percent. During that same time, D.C.'s violent juvenile crime rate declined by 55 percent, more than three times Maryland's 15 percent decline in violent juvenile crime.
The Color of Justice: An Analysis of Juvenile Adult Court Transfers in California, prepared by the Justice Policy Institute, is the first analysis of racial and ethnic disparity in the transfer of youths to adult court and sentencing to California Youth Authority facilities in California. This study reveals that youth of color are 8.3 times more likely than white youth to be sentenced by an adult court to imprisonment in a California Youth Authority facility.
Youth Crime/Adult Time
By Jolanta Juszkiewicz, from the Pretrial Services Resource Center
Youth Crime/Adult Time: Is Justice Served? reveals disturbing aspects in the transfer of youth, especially youth of color, to the adult criminal court. Prepared by the Pretrial Services Resource Center, the findings show over-representation and disparate treatment of youth of color, and raise serious questions about the fairness and appropriateness of prosecuting youth in the adult criminal system.
Drugs and Disparity: The Racial Impact of Illinois' Practice of Transferring Young Drug Offenders to Adult Court
By Jason Ziedenberg, from the Justice Policy Institute
Drugs and Disparity, a report prepared by the Justice Policy Institute for the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, finds that of the 393 youth automatically transferred to adult court in Cook County, IL during 1999-2000, over 99% were African-American or Latino, and 99% of the youth imprisoned for a drug crime from Cook County were youth of color.
Latino youth in the justice system
¿Dónde Está la Justicia? A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S Justice System is a comprehensive new report reveals that Latino and Latina youth are over-represented in the U.S. justice system, and receive harsher treatment than White youth for the same types of offenses, while the lack of adequate data nationwide masks the severity of the problem. The report was commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, a national campaign to reduce racial disparities in the justice system and promote fair and effective justice policies, and prepared by Francisco Villarruel and Nancy Walker of Michigan State University's Institute for Children, Youth, and Families.
Criminalization of youth in the media & public opinion:
Off Balance: Youth, Race, and Crime in the News finds that news media unduly connects youth to crime and violence and that youth of color are overrepresented as perpetrators and underrepresented as victims of crime. Prepared by the Justice Policy Institute and the Berkeley Media Studies Group for the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, the study is an examination of over 70 content analyses of newspaper and television crime coverage.
Zero Tolerance
Northern Lights: Success in Student Achievement and School Discipline at Northern Elementary Schoolhighlights that school achievement can be increased dramatically without resorting to out-of-school suspensions. Both of these accomplishments occur in an elementary school where fair and reasonable discipline is maintained in an environment where all children can learn. The case study focuses on Northern Elementary School in Lexington, where 70% of the school population is low-income students.
Unintended Consequences: The Impact of Zero Tolerance and other Exclusionary Policies on Kentucky Students found that African American youth are suspended two to seven times as frequently as white students for "board violations" such as "defiance of authority" or other class disturbances. The report found that there were 68,000 suspensions for school board violations in the 2000/01 school year alone. African- American students were also suspended two to 17 times as frequently as white students, depending on the school district, for "law violations" such as possession of drugs.
Public Opinion On Youth, Crime, And Race: A Guide For Advocates
By Mark Soler, President, Youth Law Center
You can also order printed copies of these reports