DMC Factsheet: Florida

FLORIDA

Disproportionate Minority Confinement

What is Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC)? Under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) exists when the proportion of youths detained or confined in secure detention facilities, secure correctional facilities, jails and lockups who are members of minority groups exceed their groups' proportions in the general population.

How widespread is DMC? In virtually every state, at every stage of the juvenile justice system, youth of color are overrepresented and receive disparate treatment, particularly in secure confinement.

State Profile: Florida

Florida has an estimated African-American youth population of 40%.
Statewide, African-American youth are more likely to receive judicial handling, be committed and transferred to adult court than they are to receive other dispositions.
African-American youth comprised 38% of referrals disposed non-judicially and 43% of judicially disposed referrals.
Statewide, African-American youth constituted 48% of the commitments.
Statewide, African-American youth made up 56% of the referrals transferred to adult court.
In Dade County, 85% of the cases filed in adult courts involved minority youth, according to a national study of the transfer of youth to adult criminal courts.

Source: Minority Representation at Various Stages of the Juvenile Justice System: 1998-99. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Bureau of Data and Research (2000) and Youth Crime/Adult Time: Is Justice Served? Building Bocks for Youth (2000).

What must states do to comply with the DMC mandate? Current law directs states to identify the extent to which disproportionate minority confinement exists, to assess the reason that it exists and to develop intervention strategies to address the causes for disproportionate minority confinement. The law does not require, and has never resulted in, the release of any youths from custody based on race, nor has it required numerical quotas for arrests. No state's funding under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act has ever been reduced as a result of noncompliance with this provision.

Contact Information: To provide comments or obtain additional information on Florida's state plan to address disproportionate minority confinement, contact Florida's state juvenile justice specialist:

Ronald Brown
Juvenile Justice Specialist
Department of Juvenile Justice
Prevention Bureau
2737 Centerview Drive, Suite 204
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3100
Phone: (850) 488-3302
Fax: (850) 922-6189
Email: Ronald.Brown@djj.state.fl.us

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