Minority View of Juvenile "Justice"

• NCJ Number: 175527
• Journal: Washington and Lee Law Review Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 1994 Pages: 465-478
• Author(s): C R Mann
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews efforts to reduce the overrepresentation of minority youth, notably black juveniles, in the juvenile justice system under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDP).

Abstract

In 1988 Congress amended the JJDP Act to address the overrepresentation of minority youth in the juvenile justice system. Congress required that States participating in the JJDP Formula Grants Program "address efforts" to reduce the disproportionate incarceration of minority youth. If the proportion of minority youth detained or confined in secure detention and correctional facilities exceeded the proportion of such groups in the general population, the JJDP Act required those States to develop a strategy to reduce those proportions. The JJDP Instructions, issued to the States in 1989, outlines two phases of implementation. Phase I requires a preliminary examination of minority youth overrepresentation, with a focus on 1990 data collection and analysis. Once a problem is determined to exist, Phase II calls for the design of program models and strategies to eliminate disproportionate confinement of minority youths and the implementation of policies and procedures to resolve the problem. The integral components of the minority overrepresentation initiative are five federally funded projects that will provide the model for the rest of the States and U.S. territories. Preliminary reports from the pilot States, as well as information from other States show clear indices of overrepresentation of minority youth in the juvenile justice system, especially African-American juveniles. Given this circumstance, States should mandate policies and strategies to ensure that minority youth benefit from more lenient and humane juvenile justice treatment and from the creation of alternative community-based facilities and other innovative programs that can reverse current negative trends. The author advises that the current trends in boot camps for juveniles, rural correctional facilities, and privately operated correctional facilities hold little promise for the humane treatment of minority youth. 56 footnotes