NCJ Number
232081
Date Published
April 2010
Length
83 pages
Annotation
This study examined the strategies used in Iowa and Virginia to reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the States' juvenile justice systems, with attention to how they are using empirical information to identify the extent and nature of the DMC problem, as well the nature and effectiveness of efforts to address it.
Abstract
Iowa and Virginia's 3-year plan for addressing DMC follow the same general format; however, neither State's DMC report clearly details how the data available will guide specific DMC interventions in the future. Virginia has not yet completed an assessment study, but did issue a solicitation for one in January 2010. Overall, there is little evidence that either State is using relative rate index (RRI) values in targeting localities and decision points for further examination in identifying mechanisms that foster DMC. The interventions implemented in the two States to reduce DMC are related to the use of risk assessment instruments, training, involvement in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), and involvement in the Burns Institute's efforts to reduce the detention of low-offending youth of color and poor youth. Assessment of the accumulated evidence on the outcomes of DMC interventions suggests promising DMC interventions almost exclusively at the detention stage of decisionmaking. Still, there is no scientifically sound, objective information that indicates either JDAI or the Burns Institute approach has been successful in reducing DMC. Recommendations pertain to identifying the existence and scope of DMC, assessment of the problem so as to develop appropriate intervention strategies, the design and implementation of interventions, and evaluation of the interventions to determine their outcomes. 20 notes, 14 references, and appended analyses of 2 counties DMC-related interventions