Disproportionate Minority Representation in the Juvenile Justice System (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
The purpose of this paper is to explore the racial disparities between white and Hispanic youth, and other minority youth while highlighting that black youth are incarcerated at disproportionate rates than another race. Further, examine whether the juvenile and criminal justice systems play significant roles in perpetuating discriminatory practices from policing to punishment, thus exacerbating the rates of African-American youth involvements with the justice systems and increased confinement. Historically, the juvenile court advocated for children to be protected and guided by the court under the framework of parens patriae—Latin for "parent of the nation." The juvenile justice system has strayed from its operative parental responsibilities of rehabilitation to punitive incarceration of youth. Scientific discourse changed long-held perception of youth, marking adolescence as a separate developmental period in which cognition and emotional maturity are not entirely developed. Yet, a large proportion of minority youth are over-represented in the criminal justice system, mainly black youth compared to their white counterparts. Utilizing mixed methods research—qualitative and a review of scholarly writing and secondary sources on the topic, this paper seeks to demonstrate how the juvenile justice system is failing to preserve the welfare of children while squandering taxpayers' dollars in the guise of public safety, and offer alternatives that are sustaining to the overall well-being of youth, particularly black youth.
Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System
Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 2020
The racial disparity in the American juvenile justice system impacts the lives of many youth of color. Youth of color constitute 34% of the U.S. population, however, they make up 62% of the youth charged in the juvenile justice system. The cycle of racial inequality and imprisonment are factors influenced by residential segregation and policing practices. Juvenile justice involvement leads to poorer physical and mental health in youth, stymied social outcomes, poorer familial relationships, decreased graduation and employment rates, increased rates in violence, and longterm negative future outcomes. The article advocates for mental health treatment and family services to be incorporated within incarcerated settings. Clinical strategies and future direction are discussed to begin to combat these various adverse impacts.
International Journal of Scientific Advances, 2021
Youths under 18 years get trapped into the Juvenile Justice System after being suspected of committing a delinquent or criminal act. The United States tops in Juvenile arrests in the world. States like West Virginia, Alaska, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming have the highest number of juveniles. However, an estimated 2.1 million youths under 18 years were arrested in the United States during a single year. This paper aims to address the current racial differences that exist within the criminal justice system. By addressing challenges like youths of color are more likely to be committed than white youths into the juvenile system will assist in curbing racial disparity. Statistics reveal that 42% of youths in the placement holdings are black youths, even though black youths make up for 16% of youths all over the United States. In California alone, African American juveniles take 27.5% while whites take up 15%. Even though the system's laws contain no racial bias, research shows that discrimination can occur where the system allows criminal justice officials discretion in handling offenders. Black youths take up for 15% of the total number of youths in the USA get they have the highest juvenile detentions of 42%, but it is difficult to deny these records since there is evidence like arrest and imprisonment records to back up this claim. The racial disparities exist from targeting the blacks, arrest, sentencing, imprisonment, and release. These actions promote discrimination among the black youths, and black youths are likely to get significant sentencing compared to whites for the same crimes committed. Different states in the United States have different racial disparities, California and Texas, blacks serve long sentences, unlike the whites. There are various causes of racial disparities like; some black residences are known for crime, and they have huge offence rates, unequal access to resources, judicial decisions, and racial prejudice. After the research, it was evident that racial disparity exists, and it can only be corrected by looking at the root cause of the problem widely, which is discrimination. Race plays a significant role when it comes to juvenile detentions. Youths of color are four times more probable to be detained, unlike white youths. The research designed a method of tracking racial disparities via a hypothetical juvenile jurisdiction criminal justice system. The paper will extensively dive into juvenile population characteristics, juvenile justice system structure, law enforcement, juvenile crime, juveniles in court, juveniles on probation by the state, juveniles in the correction by the state and foreign nations, and an analysis of all the findings. The extensive research will be able to answer all the questions to the problem of racial disparity.
Beginning in fiscal year 1994, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention included, as a requirement for a state to receive Federal Formula Grants, the determination of whether disproportionate minority confinement existed in its juvenile justice system, the identification of its causes, and the development and implementation of corrective strategies. The current study examined the extent to which U.S. juvenile justice systems have been successful in reducing disproportionate minority confinement—specifically, disproportionate African American incarceration—since the implementation of the office’s initiative. The findings suggest that, on average, there has been a reduction of nearly one fifth in the disproportionate Black:White ratio of juvenile placements, controlling for the groups’ rate of arrests during the past decade.
Influence of Race in the Deep End of the Juvenile Justice System
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2020
Racial inequalities pervade U.S. justice systems and are the focus of a growing body of research. However, there are fewer studies on racial disparities in juvenile justice settings, particularly on decisions points at the “deep end” of the system after youth have been adjudicated delinquent. The current study examines racial disparities in length of stay, institutional misconduct, and community program placement for youth admitted to the Virginia juvenile justice system from 2012–2017. We find that black youth have significantly longer lengths of stay and more serious institutional misconduct than white youth. Controlling for legal and extralegal factors eliminates the disparity for length of stay, but it remains significant for serious institutional misconduct. In recent years, youth of all races are placed into community programs rather than traditional correctional centers at similar rates. Disparities for Hispanic youth and other races are difficult to distinguish because few a...
Theoretical Criminology (May 31, 2018), 1-3.
A sweeping overview of the evolution of juvenile justice in the United States, Feld's The Evolution of the Juvenile Court reflects years of research and writing. By no means limited to the juvenile court or juvenile justice, as the title might imply, Feld's study examines closely and deftly the influence of the social and political context as well as ideologies about race, class, gender, age, and crime and how they have shaped and reshaped the nature of the court across the 20th century. As he demonstrates, beliefs about childhood, crime control, race, class, and gender are socially constructed and operate through political processes, which ultimately hurt poor children and especially poor children of color, who are more disenfranchised today than in past generations.