African-American Youth in The Juvenile Justice System
African-American Youth in The Juvenile Justice System
African-American Youth in The Juvenile Justice System
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS<br />
Overrepresentation of blacks, Hispanics, and <strong>American</strong> Indians <strong>in</strong> the juvenile justice<br />
system requires immediate attention. <strong>The</strong> existence of disproportional racial<br />
representation <strong>in</strong> the juvenile justice system raises concerns about differential exposure<br />
to risks and the fairness and equal treatment of youth by the police, courts, and other<br />
players <strong>in</strong> the juvenile justice system. Given the importance of the problem of race,<br />
crime, and juvenile justice <strong>in</strong> the United States, the scant research attention that has<br />
been paid to understand<strong>in</strong>g the factors contribut<strong>in</strong>g to racial disparities <strong>in</strong> the juvenile<br />
justice system is shock<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Recommendation: <strong>The</strong> panel recommends that a comprehensive, systematic, and<br />
long-term agenda for acquir<strong>in</strong>g empirical knowledge to understand and mean<strong>in</strong>gfully<br />
reduce problems of unwarranted racial disparity <strong>in</strong> the juvenile justice system is a critical<br />
priority and that new fund<strong>in</strong>g should be set aside for this effort.<br />
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Research should focus on the entirety of the juvenile justice system by exam<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
multiple decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>ts and process<strong>in</strong>g stages. This report demonstrates<br />
how small biases <strong>in</strong> one part of the system may have an unforeseen and<br />
dramatic outcome at later po<strong>in</strong>ts <strong>in</strong> the juvenile justice system process. <strong>The</strong> l<strong>in</strong>ks<br />
across each of the decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>ts, as well as the decisions themselves,<br />
should be scrut<strong>in</strong>ized.<br />
Research is needed to exam<strong>in</strong>e the role of organizational policy and practice <strong>in</strong><br />
the production of juvenile arrest, adjudication, and conf<strong>in</strong>ement rates and the<br />
organizational policy/practice and the decisions of <strong>in</strong>dividual officials. Research<br />
should especially target police-juvenile encounters, prosecutorial practices, and<br />
correctional processes. Challenges to the research community should be issued<br />
to develop creative ways to overcome methodological limitations of much exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
research.<br />
Research on bias should take <strong>in</strong>to account the fact that problems may appear on<br />
a local level that do not show up when state-aggregated data provide the only<br />
source for <strong>in</strong>formation. We need <strong>in</strong>formation about private as well as public<br />
facilities. Research should also take <strong>in</strong>to account sample selection biases as the<br />
screen<strong>in</strong>g process operates to filter youth <strong>in</strong> different directions with<strong>in</strong> the<br />
system.<br />
Research is needed to exam<strong>in</strong>e how juvenile justice system decisions are<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluenced by the characteristics of the communities <strong>in</strong> which different youth live.<br />
Research should move beyond traditional emphasis on black-white differences to<br />
<strong>in</strong>clude other m<strong>in</strong>orities and should recognize the diversity with<strong>in</strong> racial and<br />
ethnic groups.<br />
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