The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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are crime oriented families and they tend to think that the whole system is
after them because of the color of their skin. I do get families in here that
are real sensitive to that issue and all you can do is check yourself so that
you are as fair as you can be in your decision making and sometimes I
have almost went in the other direction and become lenient because of
that.
A small number felt that there were black/white differences in their actions.
I think that is true. A kid is more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt
when they are arrested if they say yes sir and no sir and whatever you
want sir than the kid who spits in your face and stomps on your foot.
Q. And, you think that the minority youth are more likely to spit in your
face and stomp on your foot
A. Yeah.
Race Differences in Processing
Police
In response to the closed ended questions, the majority of decision makers
strongly disagreed/disagreed (53 percent) with the statement, “White youth are picked up
less by police than black youth” (Tables 8, 9). Twenty—four percent strongly
agreed/agreed with the statement. Yet, 59 percent agreed that police treat black youth
differently than white youth.
A reading of the interviews suggests that juvenile court personnel appear to be
split on the influence of race on police interactions with youth. On the one hand, there are
some persons who do not see a bias. Differences in arrests are believed to be