The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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Recommendations
A number of recommendations will be presented in this section that are derived
from the patterns of decision making observed in Phase One of the study and the
responses and impressions from Phase Two. The recommendations are classified into
those that are general and those specific to juvenile court decision making and practices.
Although each of the recommendations is presented independently of one another,
together they are believed to be methods that could lead to a reduction in the
disproportionate overrepresentation of minorities in the system and in secure facilities.
The recommendations are based on (1) ideas on how to prevent delinquent activity and
(2) a desire to make decision makers more aware of biases that impact decision making.
General
Kurt Lewin (1943), a pioneer in the area of planned change, suggests that before
any change can take place, the change target’s environment needs to be assessed in order
to understand the inter—play of resisting and driving forces that will affect the promotion
of change. In other words, before change can occur, there is a need to understand why
factors influence persons and/or organizations in deciding case processing and outcomes.
There is also a need on the part of the decision makers to be made aware of and believe
that they may be acting in ways which may result in bias treatment of minority youth.
Thus, the task to introduce change is two-fold.