NCJ Number
215832
Date Published
2006
Length
72 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings on the status of Southeast Asian youth in the areas of juvenile justice and education in Richmond, CA.
Abstract
During the 2002-2003 school year, 17 percent of the students in the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) were API (Asian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander). API youth in WCCUSD performed above the national average on national testing in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. Closer analysis, however, revealed differences in test performances by ethnicity: Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese students performed better than the national average while more than two-thirds of Laotian 9th graders tested below the national average. Juvenile justice data indicated few arrests for API youth in Richmond between 1990 and 2003. A more detailed analysis revealed that African-American youth had the highest arrest rate for 2000, followed closely by Vietnamese youth and Laotian youth. The findings, taken together, suggest that the challenges faced by API youth in Richmond, CA are multifaceted and complex, requiring comprehensive intervention strategies that address economics, juvenile justice, and education issues. Linguistic issues must also be considered as several of the ethnic groups comprising the API category had the highest levels of linguist isolation during 2000. The findings highlight the fact that other ethnic youth face a range of challenges as well, most significantly African-American and Hispanic youth. Data for this analysis were drawn from a variety of sources. Demographic data were drawn from the United States “Census 2000,” which were accessed online through the American FactFinder system. Education data on the West Contra Costa Unified School District were drawn from the California Department of Education using their DataQuest Internet tool and the juvenile justice data were obtained from official sources such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Uniform Crime Reports, the California Crime Justice Statistics Center, and the California Youth Authority. Continued research on the status and challenges facing youth in the Richmond area is needed. Figures, tables, footnotes, appendixes