Juvenile Justice, Racial Differences

Erica Foster

In the late 1990s, ethnic minority youth accounted for one third of the adolescent population in the United States and yet comprised nearly two thirds of the 100,000 youth confined in juvenile correctional facilities (Poe-Yamagata & Jones, 2000; Pope & Feyerherm, 1995). Disproportionate minority confinement , or DMC, is the term that refers to the phenomenon in which the percentage of ethnic minority youth incarcerated in the juvenile justice system exceeds their proportions in the general population. Although European American adolescents represent the majority of arrested youth (approximately 71%), minority adolescents are incarcerated 2 times as often as their White counterparts (Poe-Yamagata & Jones, 2000). Moreover, minority youth comprise the majority of young people held in both public and private facilities, whereas European American youth brought before a judge are more likely to be placed on probation for similar offenses (Krisberg, DeComo, & Herrera, 1992; Poe-Yamagata & Jones, 2000). Though ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.