Racism of the Juvenile Justice System Revealed

Anyone who has set foot inside a juvenile detention facility in America has seen it first hand: a sea of black and brown faces, dressed in orange or blue jumpsuits, with only a scattering of whites in between. Youth of color make up 35% of the American population but 62% of youth in juvenile detention. African -American youth, who comprise just 16% of the general population, make up 38% percent those doing time in local and state correctional facilities.

But a new report released today by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) challenges the assumption that black and brown children are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system simply because they commit more crime.

"And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Justice System," describes in painstaking detail why, in far greater proportion than whites, youths of color enter the criminal justice system. NCCD researchers found differential treatment at every step of the criminal justice process. For instance, youths of color are more likely to be picked up and detained by police.

Among the finding from the NCCD report:

• African-American youths are 4.5 times more likely, and Latinos 2.3 times more likely, than white youths to be detained for identical offenses.

• About half of white teenagers arrested on a drug charge go home without being formally charged and drawn into the system. Only a quarter of black teens arrested on drug charges catch a similar break.

• When charges are filed, white youths are more likely to be placed on probation while black youth are more likely to get locked up.

Unequal treatment didn't stop upon entry into the juvenile justice system. NCCD researchers found that African-American youths are more likely than whites to be charged, tried, and incarcerated as adults. African Americans comprise 58 percent of youths charged and convicted as adults and sent to adult prisons.

The overall decline in crime rates over the past decade has not relieved the public's worries about violent crime, and politicians know it, observed NCCD Executive Director Dr. Barry Krisberg. "The policy decision to 'get tougher on crime' makes it worse for youth of color, despite the reality that white youth commit the majority of serious crimes," Krisberg says. "In the hysteria over youth gangs, children of color are much more likely to be swept up into the system. As black and brown youth on the streets say, 'Justice means 'just us.'"

More
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c97ba82fe0ccca3aca560aa195b6260a