Minority Youths and Juvenile Justice: Disproportionate Minority Contact After Nearly 20 Years of Reform Efforts

• NCJ Number: 216694
• Journal: Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice: An Interdisciplinary Journal Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 71-87
• Author(s): Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
• Date Published: January 2007
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews the current status of the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) reform initiative.

Abstract

The analysis indicates that despite almost 20 years of efforts, the federally supported DMC initiative has failed to significantly reduce minority overrepresentation within the juvenile justice system. While gains have been made, it has become evident that research concerning minority overrepresentation and how to reduce it requires more information and of a higher quality than generally exists in available juvenile justice data sources. In order to understand DMC, it is necessary to compare youths who are similarly situated. Researchers must focus on the complex and interrelated factors that affect youth across multiple levels of individuals, families, communities, and juvenile justice systems. In order to design effective strategies to reduce DMC, researchers must address differences in opportunities and expectations across different racial/ethnic groups in the community as well as throughout juvenile justice systems. The author contends that a better understanding of the causes of DMC will emerge from improvements in three areas: (1) the understanding of which characteristics of minority status merit research attention; (2) the application of uniform definitions to youths’ offending and assessments of their needs; and (3) the improvement of methods to measure juvenile justice decisions. Additionally, greater equality in opportunities and expectations throughout both the community and juvenile justice systems are necessary to decrease minority overrepresentation. Toward this end, regional, State, and local communities must work to overcome structural barriers to opportunity and equity. In the end, the solutions for DMC will be as complex and multifaceted as the factors that gave rise to the problem in the first place. Table, note, references