The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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I think that may be apart of it. I think there might be a mistrust of
authority. One of the more recent cases that I got, they skipped intake so
that means that automatically a petition gets filed. I scheduled a meeting
with them prior to the hearing, no show on that. That means that they
aren’t going to get a consent decree. The young man is thirteen years old.
They missed some opportunities and that puts them right into the
adjudication ballgame.
Q. Someone has told me that it is the minorities that tend to refuse
informal adjustments...
A. It seems to be. They are most likely to refuse on a simple charge.
Q. It’s not all minorities, it’s black.
A. Yeah.
Q. What do you attribute that to
A. I think with those kids that they come in with the parent, the
message is that when you offer an informal to a child on a simple charge, a
simple misdemeanor, and the kid says they won’t choose it because
they’re innocent. The message that you generally hear is racism. The
family believes that the child has been selected by the police solely on the
basis of race, that he is not in fact guilty. The child then, many times even
if he wants to, can’t admit because the parent has basically already told the
kid already that they are not guilty and that everybody is out to screw them
over and that they will stand behind them. They refuse the informal
because they won’t admit the of fence...then the court makes the decision.
The problem is, in the majority of those cases the kids are found guilty.
It’s usually pretty clear that they are guilty. There are witnesses and
everything else. So they’re found guilty and now they are pulled into the
court system which means the ultimate disposition is in the hands of the
court and this places them in a situation that even on a simple
misdemeanor they would be placed outside the home.
It’s very important. I think that the minority kids are more suspicious. I
don’t know if that equates into having a bad attitude or not. It all goes
back then to the family, to the parents. If you want to focus in on
minorities, if you have a mom or dad or parents that are supportive of
what the system