African-American Youth in The Juvenile Justice System

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assault (51 percent for NCVS and 57 percent for UCR), whereas a higher proportion of black youth are reported for robbery offenses (58 percent for NCVS and 60 percent for UCR). Third, one observes an important difference in the two sources of information in the proportion of youth in the “other” race category. In the NCVS, the proportion in the other race (e.g., American Indian, Asian) category ranges from 12 to 15 percent. In contrast, in the UCR, this percentage is only 2 percent. This may reflect the tendency of the police to categorize persons as black or white, because of their record-keeping system. Thus, it is possible that some of the respondents categorized as other in the NCVS data are classified as black in the UCR, inflating the rates for black juveniles. Comparing the findings from these two important and different data sources does not answer the question about whether police arrest black youth inappropriately or excessively. This comparison does, however, reveal the complexity of trying to disentangle juvenile crime data by race and the urgent need for more focused examination of these issues. In a further analysis, Greenfeld (1999) presented the results of calculations of juvenile court data based on rates in 17 states3 in 1994. From that analysis, Greenfeld concluded that black and white juveniles who commit robbery have nearly the same likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and punished with confinement. In contrast, Greenfeld found that for aggravated assault, black juveniles have a one-third higher likelihood of the offense being reported to the police (the rate was 52 per 100 offenders for black youth compared with 39 per 100 for white youth), a 50 percent higher rate of being referred to juvenile courts (rates for black youth were 22 per 100 compared with 15 per 100 for white youth), and a 60 percent higher rate of getting petitioned (rate of 16 per 100 for black youth compared with 10 per 100 for white youth), and a 50 percent greater likelihood of receiving institutional placement (3 per 100 for black youth compared with 2 per 100 for white youth). This brief summary of crime rates indicates that black juveniles are overrepresented in some types of crimes. The question is why should black juveniles be more likely to engage in criminal behavior than whites? Such overrepresentation may be at least partially explained by considering how exposure to risk factors affects the probability of engaging in criminal behavior. The argument has been made that more minority children, and black children in particular, are subject to risk factors associated with crime and that these factors explain the disparity. For example, there is ample evidence that poverty is a risk factor for delinquency. Given that many minority children are poor, then the disparity would be expected because of the poverty, not the minority status of the youth. To what extent does this explanation of the racial disparity in delinquent behavior receive support? Growing Up in a Context of Risk Throughout the history of the nation's juvenile justice system, substandard living conditions have been associated with an elevated risk of involvement by youth in Page 54 of 114
antisocial conduct. Differential rates of poverty and the social conditions associated with it may be one of the major contributors to the levels of racial disparity seen in the juvenile justice system. Minority children and adolescents are more likely than whites to be poor and to live in unfavorable environments. Figure 6-2 shows the extent to which black, Hispanic, and white children are likely to grow up in a context of risk. These data reflect the status of children in 1990 and reveal very clearly that black children are at substantially higher risk for factors associated with delinquency (see Chapter 3) and factors less likely to lead to healthy development. For example, in 1990, 40 percent of blacks under age 18 lived below poverty levels, compared with 12 percent of white children. As Figure 6-2 indicates, black children are also more likely to live in poor and very poor neighborhoods. Black children have higher rates of infant mortality, low birthweight, and exposure to lead than white or Hispanic children, and they are less likely to have had mothers who received early prenatal care. Compared with white children, black children are less likely to grow up in households in which one resident parent is fully employed. In sum, from the early days of childhood, black juveniles have more experiences with poor health care and health conditions and with poor economic conditions, and they are more likely to live in segregated, isolated neighborhoods with concentrated poverty than are white juveniles. Concentrated disadvantages in poor neighborhoods, with low mobility and little racial heterogeneity, have been found to be strongly correlated with assault and burglary rates as measured through calls to police (Warner and Pierce, 1993). They have been found to related to high rates of juvenile delinquency and crime as measured by police reports from the 1950s to the 1970s in Racine, Wisconsin (Shannon, 1986). They have been found across the nation in studies of victimization as well (Sampson, 1986). Data on Hispanic children indicate that they, too, grow up in environments different from and less advantaged than white children. While the same proportion of black and Hispanic women receive prenatal health care (61 percent) (see Figure 6-2), the percentage of low-birthweight babies born to Hispanic women is half that of black women (6 and 13 percent respectively) and the same as white women. Economic risk indicators also reflect differences between whites, Hispanics and blacks. A total of 32 percent of Hispanic children live below the poverty level, compared with 40 percent of black children and 12 percent of white children. Hispanic children are also more likely to live in poor (47 percent) and very poor neighborhoods (11 percent) than whites (12 percent and 1 percent, respectively). Differences also exist in the proportion of families with at least one parent employed on a full-time basis; 78 percent of white children live in such households, as do 62 percent of Hispanic children and 51 percent of black children. Page 55 of 114
Page 2 and 3:
Turning the Improbable Into the Exc
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Page 8 and 9: 6. 1 We disseminate Quarterly publi
Page 12 and 13: death their hostility. 17 He came a
Page 18 and 19: eceive the death penalty. Early deb
Page 20 and 21: punishment. The increased ease in t
Page 22 and 23: According to the Office of Juvenile
Page 24 and 25: Proposed Reforms Many scholars stre
Page 26 and 27: Boston, youth court is available to
Page 28 and 29: Types of Incarceration Some inmates
Page 30 and 31: populations relative to their repre
Page 32 and 33: unrelated to crime rates. That is,
Page 34 and 35: targeted media campaign to shift pu
Page 36 and 37: Promoting Alternatives: The JDAI Mo
Page 38 and 39: Nationally, the youth rate of incar
Page 40 and 41: The percentage of black arrests and
Page 42 and 43: Working with Police The OJJDP data
Page 44 and 45: Next, the County Attorney's staff w
Page 48 and 49: Both selective inattention (ignorin
Page 50 and 51: FIGURE 6-1 Involvement of juveniles
Page 52 and 53: comparable across states, and analy
Page 56 and 57: FIGURE 6-2 Child risk indicators by
Page 58 and 59: lack youth. The next section examin
Page 60 and 61: one of the few studies of black cit
Page 62 and 63: Huizinga and Elliott (1987) compare
Page 64 and 65: controlling only for present offens
Page 66 and 67: of their sentences (Carroll and Mon
Page 68 and 69: whites. The relative risk for a bla
Page 70 and 71: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Ove
Page 72 and 73: Gase, one of the study’s authors,
Page 74 and 75: The Cook County, Illinois, Dispropo
Page 76 and 77: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania redu
Page 78 and 79: Break Down Language Barriers Even t
Page 82 and 83: Notes _____________________________
Page 86 and 87: African American Youth and the Juve
Page 88 and 89: Attachment B Minority Youth in The
Page 90 and 91: Minority Youth in the Juvenile Just
Page 92 and 93: 4 In t r o d u c t i o n Minority y
Page 94 and 95: 6 the community’s service provisi
Page 96 and 97: 8 In Iowa, a Youth Race and Detenti
Page 98 and 99: 10 References Arizona Juvenile Just
Page 100 and 101: The National Conference of State Le
Page 102 and 103: Attachment C Racial Disparities in
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POLICY BRIEF: RACIAL DISPARITIES IN
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APPENDIX C. POLICY BRIEF: RACIAL DI
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Advocacy Foundation Publishers Page
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. I 2015 T
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. V 2019 O
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LI Nonprofit Confidentiality In The
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Vol. XVIII 2032 Public Policy LXXVI
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Racial Profiling June 2019 … Page
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The e-Advocate Journal of Theologic
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Issue Title Quarterly Vol. I 2015 I
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The e-Advocate Juvenile Justice Rep
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2018 - The Theological Law Firm Aca
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www.TheAdvocacyFoundation.org Page
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