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OJJDP News@ a Glance – September/October 2006
The lead article in this issue features two recent OJJDP-sponsored conferences that addressed the need to protect children. The article about the 11th Annual Conference on Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) includes new DMC Technical Assistance Manual with detailed guidance on DMC identification and monitoring, assessment and intervention. Includes an article on the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act
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Being Young, Black and Male
This news article surveys conditions of and reasons for the criminalization of black males and describes a number of programs and approaches to the problem.
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Disparity by Design
This Justice Policy Institute report describes how drug-free zone laws impact racial disparity and fail to protect youth. Following a year of research and discussion among the members of the New Jersey Sentencing Commission’s members, the commission came to several startling conclusions: In areas where schools, parks, and public housing developments are numerous and closely spaced, overlapping zones turn entire communities into prohibited zones –erasing the very distraction between school and non-school areas that the law was intended to create. By blanketing densely populated black and Hispanic neighborhoods, the laws were creating unwarranted racial disparity in the use of incarceration for people convicted of drug offenses. Laws had failed entirely to accomplish their primary objective of driving drug activity away from schools and school children. The law had no measurable deterrent effect and was not being used to sanction individuals that sell drugs to children. 50 page pdf file.
++++++++++ THE LINK The latest issue of The Link, CWLA’s juvenile justice letter is online. Contents include articles on reducing overrepresentation in Iowa’s juvenile justice and child welfare systems and a gang program in Wisconsin. ++++++++++ No Turning Back: Promising Approaches to Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities Affecting Youth of Color in the Justice System Building Blocks for Youth released this new report yesterday (October 4, 2005). The report provides accounts from states across the county of successful change in recent years. It catalogues strategies used by system insiders as well as outside advocates, including research, legislation, community organizing, media advocacy, and litigation. You can download either the complete report or a report summary at the BBFY web site. ++++++++++ Disproportionality in Child Welfare The Race Matters Consortium presents a list of working papers on disproportionality in the child welfare system, all downloadable. ++++++++++ Seven Steps to Develop and Evaluate Strategies to Reduce Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Newly published by OJJDP’s Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center, this guidebook discusses DMC in the context of a seven-step evaluation approach, focusing especially on the first two steps: identifying the problem and implementing an evidence-based intervention. These first two steps are crucial because problem identification and linking the problem to an appropriate, evidence-based strategy are particularly complex. 48 page pdf file. ++++++++++ Proposed Methods for Measuring DMC as Required by the 2002 OJDP Act: An Overview of the DMC Relative Rate Index This hour-long videotape on the measurement of disproportionate minority contact by Jeffrey Butts, PhD. is available through the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse for $15. Click on the link above. ++++++++++ Minority Detention down in Multnomah County, but More Needs to Happen in the State In the past decade, Multnomah County (Portland, Oregon) has dramatically reduced t he percentage of minority youths in detention, making it a state and national model. But the county and the state still have a long way to go ++++++++++ Disproportional Minority Confinement: 2002 Update Published in September, 2004. This Summary provides an overview of recent DMC-related developments: a brief review of the data, an outline of national efforts during the past 5 years, a summary of state activities. It provides an update on DMC compliance by presenting findings from assessment studies, documenting efforts to reduce DMC, and identifying challenges. 40+ pages. Pdf file. ++++++++++ Esperanza – Awakening to the Strength of Latino Youth Coalition for Juvenile Justice report on Racial Inequality. This report targets recommendations to ensure that Latino youth receive the recognition and fair treatment they deserve in the juvenile court system. Print version only at $5 per copy. Contact CJJ at 202-467-0864 x 0 to order. report on Racial Inequality. This report . Print version only at $5 per copy. Contact CJJ at 202-467-0864 x 0 to order. ACLU Report: Disproportionate Minority Confinement in Massachusetts A report released this week by the ACLU says that Massachusetts has failed to address the overrepresentation of youth of color in its juvenile justice system as required by federal law. The ACLU report says that the state has made no meaningful effort to comply with the federal mandate that requires states to identify the extent to which minorities are over represented in their juvenile justice systems, assess the causes, and take steps to address those concerns. The report includes seven recommendations for system-wide change in the state. A report released this week by the ACLU says as required by federal law. The ACLU report says that the state has made no meaningful effort to comply with the federal mandate that requires states to identify the extent to which minorities are over represented in their juvenile justice systems, assess the causes, and take steps to address those concerns. The report for system-wide change in the state. Read the Executive Summary of the Report. (6 pg., pdf file) ++++++++++ Dia de la Juventud Tuesday, June 3, a day of action on behalf of Latino children and youth in the justice system will be held in communities around the country. Building Blocks for Youth is encouraging support for the “Dia de la Juventud” effort in a number of ways, including signing a national online petition to make the justice system fair for Latino youth. To see the petition, click here. At the site you will find a flyer, an information packet, and information about what communities are doing across the nation. Race as a Factor in Juvenile Arrests – This Juvenile Justice Bulletin focuses on the role that race plays in police decision making and compares probabilities that white and nonwhite juveniles will be arrested for violent crimes. No direct evidence was found that racial bias affects police decisions to take juveniles into custody. Downloadable pdf file. 8 pages. ++++++++++ Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Two articles from the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) examine disproportionate minority confinement from the child welfare point of view. From the introduction: Two articles from the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) examine . From the introduction: “Far too many children of color pass from protection to punishment. With no such mandate to collect data in child welfare, disproportionality – its causes and cures – is just now coming to light.” Both articles can be read and/or downloaded online. #!: Minorities as Majority: Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice #2: Balancing the Scales: Targeting Disproportionality in child Welfare & Juvenile Justice |
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