State Workplan on the Disproportionate Representation of Minority Youth in Secure Facilities

• NCJ Number: 124885
• Author(s): B J Klein
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report found that minority youth are disproportionately arrested, detained, and confined in Delaware correctional facilities and recommends a two-pronged approach to address this problem of minority overrepresentation.

Abstract

This Delaware Criminal Justice Council report found that while minority youth represent 25 percent of the total juvenile population in Delaware, they represent 35 percent of the juveniles who are arrested, 56.5 percent of the children who are detained, and 66.5 percent of the juveniles committed to Ferris School, a correctional facility in Delaware. The report also notes that 31 percent of the arrested minority youth were detained, compared to 13 percent of arrested white children, and that 6 percent of the arrested minority youth were incarcerated at Ferris School, compared to 2 percent of arrested white children. The report proposes a two-pronged strategy to address the problem of minority overrepresentation. First, efforts must be made to reduce "selection bias" in order to ensure that differential processing of children based on minority status does not occur at any stage of the juvenile justice system. Second, there is a need to address the economic and social factors associated with less affluent population segments which are seen as the root causes of crime and which contribute significantly to the overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system. This report, a State Workplan, proposes strategies and deadlines to address the continuing problem of selection bias. These strategies include developing training workshops that focus on race and the processing of juveniles; initiating police diversion programs; expanding community-based, non-secure detention alternatives; developing detention and sentencing guidelines; and enlarging the number of non-secure alternatives to the Ferris School. The Workplan addresses the social conditions associated with lower economic groups primarily through selected neighborhood-based programs. 5 tables, 7 graphs.