Youth Crime/Adult Time:
Is Justice Served?

CALLS FOR ACTION

THE NEXT PRESIDENT AND ATTORNEY GENERAL SHOULD:

• Meet with civil rights leaders and Building Blocks For Youth partners to discuss how they plan to address this issue.

• Commit at least an additional $100 million for the Department of Justice to address this issue throughout the country. Funding should support further research; data collection on African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian youth; identifying and promoting information on promising approaches and practices; new demonstration projects; replication initiatives; and a national public education campaign.

• Strengthen the Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC) protections in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act by proposing and supporting legislation (similar to legislation already passed by the House of Representatives) to address the disproportionate involvement of minority youth at all points in the justice system, from first contact with police to incarceration. Legislation should include new, more substantial federal oversight measures on dmc provisions to require states to annually report to OJJDP on their actions to address Disproportionate Minority Confinement; to require states to make their plans public every year and to hold public hearings throughout the state before they submit their state funding plan to OJJDP; and to require states to report specific data on African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian youth.

• Strengthen provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, to prohibit placing children in adult jails under any circumstances.

• Increase resources for juvenile defenders.

• Support revisions of current law to require drug treatment, not incarceration, for non-violent youth with drug offenses.

CONGRESS SHOULD:

• Strengthen the Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC) protections in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act by proposing and supporting legislation (similar to legislation already passed by the House of Representatives) to address the disproportionate involvement of minority youth at all points in the justice system, from first contact with police to incarceration. Legislation should include new, more substantial federal oversight measures on dmc provisions to require states to annually report to OJJDP on their actions to address Disproportionate Minority Confinement; to require states to make their plans public every year and to hold public hearings throughout the state before they submit their state funding plan to OJJDP; and to require states to report specific data on African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian youth.

• Strengthen provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to prohibit placing children in adult jails under any circumstances.

• Appropriate at least an additional $100 million for the Department of Justice to address this issue throughout the country.

• Require that states spend 25% of the funds they receive under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to collect specific data on police contacts, juvenile justice system contacts, and transfers to adult criminal court for African-American, Latino, Native American, and Asian youth; replicate effective programs to reduce racial disparities in detention; and fund a state coordinator to serve as point person on disproportionate minority confinement.

• Hold oversight hearings in Congressional districts on the issues of disparate treatment of minority youth, particularly for members of key Congressional committees in locations where research shows the most significant disparities.

• Increase resources for juvenile defenders.

• Revise current laws to require drug treatment, not incarceration, for non-violent youth with drug offenses.

GOVERNORS, STATE LEGISLATORS, STATE AGENCY ADMINISTRATORS, AND LOCAL OFFICIALS SHOULD:

• Immediately stop incarcerating young people with adult inmates in adult jails and prisons, and strengthen state laws to prohibit incarceration of youth with in adult jails and prisons under any circumstances.

• Immediately appoint a state commission including of members of the public to investigate and visit all state juvenile and adult correctional facilities where youth are held; hold public hearings on the disparate racial impact of their state laws providing for prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal court; conduct a state census on the number of youth incarcerated with adults; and report the findings to the public.

• Declare a moratorium on building new juvenile detention and correction facilities and adding new secure beds until the public commission issues its findings to the public.

• Increase resources for juvenile defenders.

• Revise current laws to require drug treatment, not incarceration for non-violent youth with drug offenses.

JUDGES, POLICE, PROSECUTORS, DEFENSE ATTORNEYS, AND OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS SHOULD:

JUDGES:

• Refuse to send youth to the adult criminal justice system and refuse to send youth to adult jails and prisons, especially youth who have committed non-violent or drug offenses, until the states have investigated racial disparities in the justice system and implemented necessary reforms.

• Bring together law enforcement, juvenile justice system personnel, community organizations, and youth to analyze where and how decisions are made in the justice system that lead to differential treatment of minority youth, and recommend and implement necessary reforms.

POLICE:

• Collect basic information on contacts with youth, e.g. date, time, place, age, race, reason for contact, result of contact, etc, to establish local data bases for analyses of decisionmaking by law enforcement.

• Work with juvenile justice system personnel, community organizations, and youth to analyze where and how decisions are made in the justice system that lead to differential treatment of minority youth, and recommend and implement necessary reforms.

PROSECUTORS:

• Refuse to charge youth in the adult criminal justice system, especially youth who have committed non-violent or drug offenses, until the states have investigated racial disparities in the justice system and implemented necessary reforms.

• Work with juvenile justice system personnel and community groups to analyze where and how decisions are made in the justice system that lead to differential treatment of minority youth, recommend, and implement necessary reforms.

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD:

• Join the Building Blocks For Youth network in calling on our nation's public officials to provide effective leadership on these specific action steps

• Monitor the activities of the federal and state governments to address this issue.

• Ask states to provide data on African-American, Latino, Native American, and Asian youth and reports on their activities.

• Request meetings with state officials, and report to their members and the public.

• Urge local affiliates to contact state juvenile justice specialists, obtain the state's DMC plan, meet with the state juvenile justice specialist, and report the findings to the public.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS SHOULD:

• Join the Building Blocks For Youth network in calling on our nation's public officials to provide effective leadership on these specific action steps

• Contact the state juvenile justice specialist to obtain a copy of the state's DMC plan.

• Request a meeting with the state juvenile justice specialist to review the state DMC plan.

• Report the findings to public officials, the public and the media.

• Visit adult jails and prisons and investigate the conditions and the status of youth in adult jails and prisons.

• Urge state officials to create state commissions called for in this Call to Action, request to serve on the state commission, and monitor the activities of the state commission.

• Help bring together law enforcement, juvenile justice system personnel, community organizations, and youth to analyze where and how decisions are made in the justice system that lead to differential treatment of minority youth, and recommend and implement necessary reforms.

PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS SHOULD:

• Support research on this issue and the development of effective models of reform.

• Support efforts to educate the public, policymakers, public officials, parents, citizen groups, and others on these issues.

THE MEDIA SHOULD:

• Review the state plan on Disproportionate Minority Confinement by contacting the state juvenile justice specialist (list attached) to obtain a copy of the state's dmc plan, investigate the state's actions and report findings to the public.

• Investigate the impact of state laws providing for prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal court.

• Visit adult jails and prisons and investigate the conditions and the status of youth in adult jails and prisons.

• Interview public officials on their actions to create a state commission called for in this Call to Action, and monitor the work and findings of the commission.