The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

249 The police force is not made up of college graduates and studies show that the more education you have, the more you view things with an open mind and that would allow you to be less prejudice. The second explanation provided to account for the different treatment given blacks by police centered on police deployment patterns. The police are concentrating in areas where most of the people living there are minorities. So, if that is where they are concentrating their effort, that is who they are going to arrest. When police have to go into the same area over and over it makes them weary and therefore more apt to just go ahead and book them. The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minorities The decision makers gave a wide range of opinions regarding what factors may account for the disproportionate overrepresentation of minorities in secure facilities. Their responses were usually “catchall” statements which named everything from racism and prejudice to gang activity and economics. They seemed to see it as a combination of many factors and were unable to narrow it down to a specific explanation. Socioeconomic level, education opportunities, job opportunities, prejudice in society in general. I don’t know. I could never state that racism doesn’t have something to do with it. If it does, that sickens me. It might. I don’t know that there is any validity to the fact that , statistically in our society, black families tend to be broken more than whites or any other race. I don’t know if minorities
250 tend to be drawn to gang activities more than whites. A couple of decision makers, however, did indicate the focus by police on blacks and the inner cities may be a central factor. When I first started here I noticed the disproportionate number of blacks in the system and I kind of compared the percentage of the population to what I saw come through here and I didn’t see a difference here. I have heard those same statistics about other parts of the country and perhaps that is changing here also. But, I think that may have to do primarily with the fact that the inner city areas are mostly minorities and because of the conditions in those areas; economic, family structure, school. I think that the police focus more on those areas and I also think that there is a real difference between those kinds of crime blacks commit, violent crimes, and the white collar crimes that a lot of the white youth are committing. There is a high proportion of minorities in the inner city. They are more visible and they are targeted, but it is not because they are black. It is because of where they live. Overall, a majority (61 percent) of the decision makers do not feel that the race of a delinquent influences the likelihood of referral (Table 10, 11). Fifty percent said almost never to never are blacks treated differently than whites. The other 50 percent, however, said always, most of the time or sometimes blacks are treated differently. Only a very small minority of the decision makers believed race differences exist at any of the specific stages in the proceedings. During the interview, the decision makers were asked if they saw race bias in the system. Some thought that bias does occur and that this is reflected by either harsher or different treatment of blacks. There were a couple of people, however, who
Page 1 and 2:
The Disproportionate Overrepresenta
Page 3 and 4:
The Disproportionate Overrepresenta
Page 5 and 6:
Each of the following persons, in a
Page 7 and 8:
Race Differences in Processing…
Page 9 and 10:
Future Opportunities……………
Page 11 and 12:
Crimes………………………
Page 13 and 14:
LIST OF TABLES Title Page # Summary
Page 15 and 16:
Frequency Distributions of Variable
Page 17 and 18:
Definition of Variables Used to Rep
Page 19 and 20:
Frequency Distributions of Variable
Page 21 and 22:
Definitions of Variables Used to Re
Page 23 and 24:
Research Sites 2 Due to the relativ
Page 25 and 26:
was counted as only one referral. T
Page 27 and 28:
6 result of an active policy which
Page 29 and 30:
8 outcomes is as follows: adjudicat
Page 31 and 32:
10 Analysis The analyses followed t
Page 33 and 34:
12 Scott County: At the stage of pe
Page 35 and 36:
14 Table 1. Summary of Research Des
Page 37 and 38:
16 Table 1-continued. _____________
Page 39 and 40:
18 Table 2--Continued. Black Hawk W
Page 41 and 42:
Table 3.-continued. 20 Disposition
Page 43 and 44:
Table 3.-continued. 22 Disposition
Page 45 and 46:
24 objective of this approach was t
Page 47 and 48:
26 negative light, represented by b
Page 49 and 50:
28 Thus, the decision makers respon
Page 51 and 52:
30 specific county is first present
Page 53 and 54:
Table 1. Number of Self-Reports and
Page 55 and 56:
34 in interacting with youth. The e
Page 57 and 58:
36 end up being good and I learned
Page 59 and 60:
38 he is on probation, he knows the
Page 61 and 62:
40 . . . level of supervision and a
Page 63 and 64:
42 For the young black man it is a
Page 65 and 66:
44 (47 percent answered most of the
Page 67 and 68:
46 the result of disproportionate i
Page 69 and 70:
48 court whereas a person without t
Page 71 and 72:
50 and deprivation financially and
Page 73 and 74:
52 referred on to petition. The res
Page 75 and 76:
Blacks/Dropout Placement 54 The sec
Page 77 and 78:
56 of things doesn’t get arrested
Page 79 and 80:
58 I think that traditionally Black
Page 81 and 82:
60 while job and they are contribut
Page 83 and 84:
62 be. If someone has done wrong an
Page 85 and 86:
64 also varied. The two more promin
Page 87 and 88:
66 Table 2. Definition of Variables
Page 89 and 90:
Table 3--continued. 68 Variable Nam
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Table 5--continued. 72 Variable Nam
Page 95 and 96:
Table 5--continued. Variable Name C
Page 97 and 98:
76 Table 7. Frequency Distributions
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Table 10. Definition of Variable Re
Page 103 and 104:
Table 11--continued. Variable Name
Page 105 and 106:
84 Several black youth felt that wh
Page 107 and 108:
86 Some individuals did believe tha
Page 109 and 110:
88 In summary both races felt that
Page 111 and 112:
90 A black male reasoned that black
Page 113 and 114:
92 variation in the responses. A ma
Page 115 and 116:
94 than white. Almost all of t blac
Page 117 and 118:
96 for a probation violation.” A
Page 119 and 120:
98 get to associate with kids and h
Page 121 and 122:
100 “It’s too hard for me. I do
Page 123 and 124:
102 married or nothing like that.
Page 125 and 126:
104 Table 1. Definition of Variable
Page 127 and 128:
Table 2--continued. White Black Var
Page 129 and 130:
108 Table 4. Frequency Distribution
Page 131 and 132:
110 Table 4--continued. White Black
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
120 more diversified personnel to a
Page 143 and 144:
122 I have problems with the facili
Page 145 and 146:
124 adhere to, you know, to the cou
Page 147 and 148:
126 laymen, lay people the authorit
Page 149 and 150:
128 called an original gang member.
Page 151 and 152:
opportunity, or do you wait for the
Page 153 and 154:
132 ...there’s things that you di
Page 155 and 156:
134 almost never/never). Thirty-fou
Page 157 and 158:
136 I think that may be apart of it
Page 159 and 160:
138 one-time meeting with this fami
Page 161 and 162:
140 …no differences. I don’t th
Page 163 and 164:
142 of our diversion programs as qu
Page 165 and 166:
144 Q. As an excuse for why they co
Page 167 and 168:
146 blacks were released while olde
Page 169 and 170:
148 not be cooperative, it limits y
Page 171 and 172:
150 Indian Youth of America is very
Page 173 and 174:
Blacks, Native American Indians Les
Page 175 and 176:
154 Overall, most of the decision m
Page 177 and 178:
156 same schools in Sioux City. The
Page 179 and 180:
158 A. Well, they’re living in Si
Page 181 and 182:
160 A. Yeah, I think so. I think th
Page 183 and 184:
162 ideological position is evident
Page 185 and 186:
Table 1. Distributions of Decision
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Table 3--continued 168 Variable Nam
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Table 5-continued. 172 Variable Nam
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Table 8. Definition of Variables Re
Page 199 and 200:
Table 10. Definition of Variables R
Page 201 and 202:
Table 11-continued. 178 Variable Na
Page 203 and 204:
Chapter Six Woodbury County Youth T
Page 205 and 206:
182 Q: Do you feel racial discrimin
Page 207 and 208:
improving. There was one twelve yea
Page 209 and 210:
186 Q: Do you feel racial discrimin
Page 211 and 212:
188 Q: Do you feel that a black per
Page 213 and 214:
190 In the interviews, half of the
Page 215 and 216:
192 Trust The question asked in thi
Page 217 and 218:
194 According to the Hispanic youth
Page 219 and 220:
196 he always yells at the black ki
Page 221 and 222: (58 percent of the whites, 55 perce
Page 223 and 224: 200 Q: Now, tell me why. A: Cause i
Page 225 and 226: 202 Q: You mean of physical harm or
Page 227 and 228: 204 have a lot of respect for the p
Page 229 and 230: Perceptions of Probation Officers 2
Page 231 and 232: 208 blacks (Tables 5, 6). Generally
Page 233 and 234: 210 Black youth He’s nice. He tal
Page 235 and 236: 212 The first black youth believed
Page 237 and 238: 214 because the teacher would not l
Page 239 and 240: 216 and go to the principal’s off
Page 241 and 242: 218 The youth have taken into consi
Page 243 and 244: 220 Table 1. Definition of Variable
Page 245 and 246: Table 2-continued. White Black Vari
Page 247 and 248: 224 Table 4. Frequency Distribution
Page 249 and 250: 226 Table 4-continued White Black V
Page 253 and 254: 230 Table 6-continued. White Black
Page 257 and 258: 234 Table 8--continued. White Black
Page 259 and 260: 236 Perceived Role of the Court and
Page 261 and 262: 238 There is extremely more paperwo
Page 263 and 264: As in the responses to the closed e
Page 265 and 266: 242 getting the support from the pa
Page 267 and 268: 244 They seem to want to turn the k
Page 269 and 270: 246 crime. There are some officers,
Page 271: Police 248 In response to the close
Page 275 and 276: 252 Blacks and Detention The first
Page 277 and 278: 254 The problem is availability. Th
Page 279 and 280: 256 the percentages. I don’t know
Page 281 and 282: 258 Table 1. Distributions of Decis
Page 285 and 286: Table 3-continued. 262 Variable Nam
Page 291 and 292: Table 6. Definition of Variables Re
Page 297 and 298: 274 Table 11. Frequency Distributio
Page 299 and 300: Chapter Eight YOUTH POLK COUNTY The
Page 301 and 302: 278 ...because of the last past thi
Page 303 and 304: 280 equal opportunity; yet, youth w
Page 305 and 306: 282 The trend in the interviews, fo
Page 307 and 308: 284 in the minority. Racism is indi
Page 309 and 310: 286 could single out a group that t
Page 311 and 312: 288 I think it is because they are
Page 313 and 314: 290 could trust the police, there w
Page 315 and 316: 292 View of Probation Officer In th
Page 317 and 318: 294 and he spoke out against me, ma
Page 319 and 320: 296 Some of those blacks who did co
Page 321 and 322: Summary 298 In general, most of the
Page 323 and 324:
Page 325 and 326:
Page 327 and 328:
304 Table 4-continued. White Black
Page 329 and 330:
Table 4-continued. White Black Vari
Page 331 and 332:
Page 333 and 334:
Page 335 and 336:
Page 337 and 338:
Charter Nine Adult Decision Makers
Page 339 and 340:
316 from becoming recidivists and
Page 341 and 342:
318 The paperwork. I think I do my
Page 343 and 344:
320 By reading through the intervie
Page 345 and 346:
322 difference is that youth are no
Page 347 and 348:
324 this country. I don’t think i
Page 349 and 350:
326 I think some of them have to pr
Page 351 and 352:
328 I think they’re about the sam
Page 353 and 354:
330 My feeling is that the most com
Page 355 and 356:
332 The Juvenile Justice System In
Page 357 and 358:
334 I have seen a couple of instanc
Page 359 and 360:
336 The Disproportionate Overrepres
Page 361 and 362:
338 It just goes to show that is al
Page 363 and 364:
340 Race Findings Specific to Study
Page 365 and 366:
342 Blacks Receive Consent Decrees
Page 367 and 368:
344 small minority we are dealing w
Page 369 and 370:
346 In response to the second phase
Page 371 and 372:
348 As a person who hires here, I a
Page 373 and 374:
350 Table 1. Distributions of Decis
Page 375 and 376:
Page 377 and 378:
354 Table 3-continued. Variable Nam
Page 379 and 380:
Page 381 and 382:
Page 383 and 384:
Table 6. Definition of Variable Rep
Page 385 and 386:
Page 387 and 388:
Page 389 and 390:
366 Table 11. Frequency Distributio
Page 391 and 392:
Chapter Ten Youth Scott County Ther
Page 393 and 394:
370 have equal job opportunities (6
Page 395 and 396:
372 concerning opportunities in the
Page 397 and 398:
374 police brutality. One expressed
Page 399 and 400:
376 feel police do not treat everyo
Page 401 and 402:
378 just thinks you’re never goin
Page 403 and 404:
380 The results from the self repor
Page 405 and 406:
382 white youth who reported he wou
Page 407 and 408:
384 When asked whether they regrett
Page 409 and 410:
Page 411 and 412:
Page 413 and 414:
Page 415 and 416:
Page 417 and 418:
Page 419 and 420:
Page 421 and 422:
Page 423 and 424:
400 Table 8-continued White Black V
Page 425 and 426:
402 asked more general questions th
Page 427 and 428:
404 however, were the dominant them
Page 429 and 430:
406 In all four counties, decision
Page 431 and 432:
408 Recommendations A number of rec
Page 433 and 434:
410 encourage sexual promiscuity, a
Page 435 and 436:
412 decision makers have little exp
Page 437 and 438:
414 resources and rising expectatio
Page 439 and 440:
416 Depending on the county, decisi
Page 441 and 442:
418 family cooperativeness or defic
Page 443 and 444:
420 Table 1. Summary of Themes and
Page 445 and 446:
422 Explanations of Specific Findin
Page 447:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Bishop, D. and C. Fraz
show all

The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?