The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

148
not be cooperative, it limits your decisions as what you’re going to offer
the people.. .If they don’t want to cooperate or if they want their day in
court, they certainly have that right, so maybe they exercise that right
more.
One individual believed that personnel at intake may have established standards or what
was referred to as “lines drawn”. These standards were believed to possibly result in
different outcomes for certain youth.
...I think a large part of what’s going on is bias and I also see a little
different perception that the intake has lines drawn. You’re up to this age,
it doesn’t matter what you did, you get this. If you’re over this age, it
doesn’t matter what you’re done, you get this. If it a juvenile partying out
in Morningside, one of the more affluent neighborhoods, we just cite them
all for frequent a disorderly house, send them ADAPT and we’re done. I
sometimes get the perception that there are these lines drawn and we just
start with that instead of looking more into the situation. That’s just a
perception, and they would probably deny it...
Native American Indians Under Court Authority Released/
Native American Indians With Serious Crime Released
The second and third race findings were also present at the intake stage. There,
Native American Indians who were under court authority at the time of the referral or
were charged with a serious crime were more likely to be released or receive an informal
adjustment than other similarly situated youth. Through the interviews and past
discussions with personnel, these findings, for the most part, were accepted as reflecting
current practices in this juvenile court office. The explanation for these findings rest with
an agreement that exists between the