PND (4/25/2000) -- New Report Finds Racial Disparities Pervasive in Juvenile Justice System

Minority youth experience more severe treatment than their white peers at every stage of the juvenile justice process, finds a comprehensive new report commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, a national project to address unfairness in the juvenile justice system. According to the study, And Justice for Some, the harsher treatment of youth of color puts them at a "cumulative disadvantage" that has led to an over-representation of minority youth in confinement across the United States.

The report was prepared by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), America's oldest criminal justice think-tank, and funded by the Justice Department and the Ford, MacArthur, Rockefeller, Walter Johnson, and Annie E. Casey foundations and the Center on Crime, Communities and Culture of George Soros's Open Society Institute.

According to the new report's findings, when white youth and minority youth were charged with the same offenses, African-American youth with no prior admissions were six times more likely to be incarcerated in public facilities than white youth with the same background. Latino youth were three times more likely than white youth to be incarcerated. Minority youth were also much more likely to be waived from juvenile court to adult criminal court than white youth, even when charged with the same offenses.

"We find that this report leaves no doubt that we are faced with a very serious national civil rights issue, virtually making our system juvenile injustice," commented Hugh B. Price, president and CEO of the National Urban League.

Responding to the report at an April 25 press conference, civil rights groups and the Building Blocks for Youth initiative called for immediate action to address racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. The groups want Congress to provide the Justice Department with at least $100 million to help reduce racial disparities and require states to spend a quarter of their federal juvenile justice grants on the issue.

"Eradicating discrimination in the juvenile justice system is the next big battle for civil rights leaders, and this battle starts now," said Hiewet Senghor, national director, NAACP Youth & College Division. "We're calling on Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush to make us a pledge: that if elected President, they will take concrete steps to eliminate this double-standard of justice that's devastating our communities."

A full copy of the report, And Justice for Some can be viewed here: http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/justiceforsome/jfs.ht ml

"New Report Reveals Sharp Racial Disparities in Nation's Juvenile Justice System." Building Blocks for Youth Press Release 4/25/2000.

See also: Butterfield, Fox. "Racial Disparities Are Pervasive in Justice System, Report Says." New York Times 4/26/2000.

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