The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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…no differences.
I don’t think that enters into it
I wouldn’t agree with that...
For legal representation, I think it’s almost
all the same.
...we’ve got some pretty decent public defenders.
The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minorities
A large majority of the juvenile justice decision makers do not feel that the
race/ethnicity of a youth influences the likelihood of a referral (Tables 10, ii). Seventy—
eight percent, however, believed that blacks are referred more so than whites. Most of the
personnel do not believe race/ethnic differences exist at any of the specific stages in the
proceedings. Thirty percent indicate that sometimes there may be differences at the intake
stage.
There were a variety of opinions concerning what factors may account for the
differences in referrals and in particular, the disproportionate overrepresentation of
minorities in secure facilities. Some of the decision makers responded by suggesting that
it is: the result of committing more crime- which may be related to socio-economic
factors, the large number of single parent families among minorities, the attitudes of
minority youth and the family, and associations with gangs.
The real obvious part would be that either they commit more crimes or
that they are arrested more often whether or not they are committing the
crimes. Unfortunately, largely juvenile court services and the system is
reactive instead of proactive, so they end up