This data snapshot, based on data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Juvenile Court Data Archive, illustrates racial and ethnic disparities in the processing of delinquency cases in 2020.
This data snapshot, based on data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) National Juvenile Court Data Archive, illustrates racial and ethnic disparities in the processing of delinquency cases in 2020. Data show that, aside from drug cases, referral rates for cases involving Black youth exceeded rates for all other groups. Across offenses, cases involving White youth were most likely to be diverted. Regardless of offense, cases involving youth of color were more likely to involve detention than cases involving white youth, and cases involving white youth were less likely to result in placement than cases involving Black or Hispanic youth. This publication was prepared by Charles Puzzanchera and Marly Zeigler, National Center for Juvenile Justice, under cooperative agreement #2019-JX-FX-K001 awarded by the National Institute of Justice with funding support from OJJDP. July 2023. It is important to note that 2020 was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have impacted policies, procedures, and data collection activities regarding referrals to and processing of youth by juvenile courts. Additionally, stay-at-home orders and school closures likely impacted the volume and type of law-violating behavior by youth referred to juvenile court in 2020.