Interim Project Report: A Review of the Status of Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Efforts in Iowa and Virginia

• NCJ Number: 232080
• Author(s): Mary E. Poulin; Janice Iwama; Stan Orchowsky
• Date Published: October 2008
• Length: 43 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-JE-FX-0002
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Corporate Author: Justice Research and Statistics Association
• Sale Source: Justice Research and Statistics Association
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This Interim Report on the evaluation of Iowa's and Virginia's efforts to reduce disproportionate minority contact with the States' juvenile justice system focuses on documenting the DMC problems, assessments of DMC, and interventions and their outcomes.

Abstract

For well over a decade, Iowa has been involved in identifying both statewide and county-specific DMC problems and causes, and the State has mounted a wide range of efforts designed to address identified problems and causes. Available documentation regarding the implementation of these efforts varies; however, at a minimum, information is available on what, why, when, and where efforts have been implemented. Little evaluation information exists that can document the success of these efforts. Still, the statewide integrated database, the Justice Data Warehouse, has been enhanced substantially over the last few years, so as to improve the tracking of cases by race from the point of complaint to disposition. These improvements enable analyses of changes in rates of minority involvement in the juvenile justice system and could facilitate the evaluation of DMC efforts. In Virginia, efforts to address DMC began in earnest around 2001, although studies prior to this date had identified the presence of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. These studies identified a wide range of problems and causes of DMC, but not all of the studies reached similar conclusions. Differing conclusions are likely related to gaps in available system data for documenting the problem, since problems and causes are likely to vary across jurisdictions. Efforts to address DMC in Virginia have focused on the detention decision. Information on the success of these efforts is limited, although available information, at a minimum, is available on what, why, when, and where efforts were implemented. 7 tables, 23 references, and appended history of DMC reduction activities and the methodology for examining DMC interventions in Iowa and Virginia