The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

414
resources and rising expectations from state government and the society at large, time
should be set-aside to conduct inhouse evaluations. Whether these evaluations are
conducted every six months or once a year, these agencies need to take a look at
themselves. What kinds of decision making are we making What factors seem to
influence our decisions What can be done to make changes Is there a need for change
What problems are we facing in this office Questions like these should be addressed.
Recommendation: In—house Evaluations of Decision Making
and Concerns
At a minimum, each of the Chief Juvenile Court Officers should take a close
examination at the concerns raised by his/her staff and assess what problems he/she sees
among the personnel as presented in the findings reported here.
Specific
A common theme that emerged from the interviews with the juvenile court
decision makers is the lack of state support. In order to accomplish some of the tasks that
would be needed to deal with racism and improve race relations in general, there is the
need to provide funds for both the creation of additional job lines within the juvenile
court office and for innovative probation programming.
Recommendation: State Government and Private
Parties need to Provide More Funds For
Jobs and Programming