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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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adhere to, you know, to the court’s standards and, you know, understand<br />

and respect those th<strong>in</strong>gs and, you know, so many times it doesn’t have to<br />

be black, white, or green or yellow. If you have some k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> standards<br />

and understand<strong>in</strong>g and structure <strong>in</strong> your life, then I th<strong>in</strong>k those people<br />

show up for court dressed appropriately and I th<strong>in</strong>k respect and fear have a<br />

lot to do with it, too. When people, all that types come <strong>in</strong>to court real<br />

fearful and that is someth<strong>in</strong>g that, I don’t know if that dim<strong>in</strong>ishes the<br />

effect <strong>of</strong> the court or what not, and then there’s other people who have<br />

absolutely no fear and when you have absolutely no fear, those are the<br />

people that have absolutely noth<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

<strong>The</strong> adherence to the role <strong>of</strong> advocate on the part <strong>of</strong> the juvenile justice decision<br />

makers, which seems to be another word for the best <strong>in</strong>terests <strong>of</strong> the child, appears to<br />

have led to some tension and conflicts with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>of</strong>fice. For some, this schism seems to<br />

have impacted their ability to adequately perform their job and their work<strong>in</strong>g relationship<br />

with the county prosecutors.<br />

<strong>The</strong> changes <strong>in</strong> the code. <strong>The</strong>y were <strong>in</strong>itially put <strong>in</strong>to effect to protect the<br />

rights <strong>of</strong> the children.. . Many <strong>of</strong> the safeguards that were put <strong>in</strong>to effect to<br />

protect the children <strong>in</strong> the end, end up harm<strong>in</strong>g the children <strong>in</strong> the long<br />

run. As more restrictions are put upon the workers, we can’t help children<br />

who are hav<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> need. It has becomes more difficult and time<br />

consum<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

Our <strong>of</strong>fice is probably different from other places. We have a pretty good<br />

work<strong>in</strong>g relationship with our supervisors. I believe that the JCO’s<br />

primary responsibility is <strong>in</strong> advocat<strong>in</strong>g for their client <strong>in</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g sure that<br />

there are programs available for their families to be <strong>in</strong> that will help them.<br />

<strong>The</strong> responsibility <strong>of</strong> the supervisors is to advocate for their workers so<br />

that the workers have the tools that they need. I th<strong>in</strong>k that is a real strong<br />

th<strong>in</strong>g here, that people try to take care <strong>of</strong> everybody that they are<br />

responsible for. I th<strong>in</strong>k we are good at plac<strong>in</strong>g the needs <strong>of</strong> the child first.<br />

What is

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