In my last Civic Post, I discussed ways in which we could improve the juvenile system. This week I will be discussing the various causes and disparities within the US’s Juvenile System. In my research something that stood out to me was even though the overall juvenile placements fell 54% between 2001 and 201, there is still a significant existing racial disparity in juvenile placements that widened even further. The existence of racial and ethnic disparities is a disturbing feature of the juvenile justice system. Over the 10 years in this report, disparities for African American youth and American Indian youth have grown even as overall indicators, such as total arrests and the total numbers of youth in placement, have fallen. According to a study done by the science project, Black youth were more than five times as likely to be detained or committed than were white youth in 2015. Here are a few more statistics that I found to be interesting:

• Black girls are 2.7 times more likely than white girls to be referred to juvenile justice
• Black girls comprise 35% of the population of girls who are locked up, Latina girls account for 19%
• Black and Hispanic youth were significantly more likely than their white counterparts to be sentenced to serve time in an adult jail when transferred to adult court.

Now to fully understand this data its important to get to the root of what causes these disparities. In fact, in our Last class Professor O’Hara talked about the importance of identifying the cause of an issue before creating a solution. Various studies have shown that factors such as environmental, psychological, and social aspects are all possible contributing parts of the problem. One of the more prevalent reasons are socially related factors. These include family relationships, peer pressure, and gangs. Oftentimes, the combination of hormonal changes and bad family life is a good mix for trouble in a juvenile. If a child grows up in a home with poor parental management, poor supervision, and inconsistent discipline, they are at a greater chance of being involved in illegal activities. This is why early intervention is very necessary to create alternative responses to youth behavior which, when implemented well, can keep youth from having contact with the juvenile justice system, such as an arrest.

Solutions:

Many studies have shown that incarcerating juveniles does nothing for them in the long run. On average the government spends about 21 billion dollars on the incarceration of juveniles. However, if the government was to invest that 21 billion in the future of incarcerated juveniles, and pour an increased amount of money into preventative programs it will cut down the number of incarcerated juveniles in the future. This, in turn, reduces both the number of prisoners and the cost of caring for/housing them Also since poverty is such a prevalent factor that causes many African American youths and Hispanic to commit crimes. There needs to be a greater government invention in these communities. Whether it be to fund a better school, hire better teachers, or even implement after-school programs. All of these are solutions will be very beneficial to kids in the long run.

To help reduce disparities at the arrest stage, as well as to reduce the number of overall arrests, many communities should begin conducting training programs for law enforcement that help police to develop skills that enable more positive interactions with youth, particularly youth of color.