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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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132<br />

...there’s th<strong>in</strong>gs that you did three years ago that you can’t do now and one<br />

<strong>of</strong> those is the extent <strong>of</strong> your <strong>in</strong>vestigation. You can’t spend nearly as<br />

much time. You don’t know nearly as much about the people that you’re<br />

deal<strong>in</strong>g with simply because you don’t have the time to do that.<br />

Race Differences <strong>in</strong> General<br />

Crime<br />

Juvenile justice decision makers were asked if they believed blacks commit<br />

different crimes and more crime <strong>in</strong> contrast to whites. Responses to these closed ended<br />

questions and others are provided <strong>in</strong> Tables 6 and 7.<br />

A very large percentage <strong>of</strong> the personnel did not agree with the statement that<br />

blacks commit different crimes than whites (83 percent strongly disagreed/disagreed). A<br />

majority <strong>of</strong> the personnel, however, strongly agreed or agreed that blacks commit more<br />

crime (57 percent). Thirty-five percent strongly disagreed/disagreed with the statement.<br />

<strong>The</strong> themes emerg<strong>in</strong>g from the <strong>in</strong>terviews concur with those reported from the closed<br />

ended questions.<br />

Reasons provided for the belief that blacks and other m<strong>in</strong>orities commit more<br />

crime range from “they just do it more” to the perception that m<strong>in</strong>orities live <strong>in</strong> the more<br />

crime ridden neighborhoods which are patrolled more <strong>of</strong>ten. <strong>The</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g quotes<br />

represent just a few examples <strong>of</strong> these views.<br />

I can’t see them be<strong>in</strong>g treated differently, so if they’re committ<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

crime, they’re caught...

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