American Youth Incarceration: Race Disparities in Justice System - Essay Sample

Introduction

About one-third of the American youth population is colored, and the group constitutes about two-thirds of incarcerated youth (Barrett, 2015). The disproportionate representation of the minority group in every stage of the nation's juvenile justice system has attracted a lot of attention to identifying the source. While it is expected that justice is fair to all citizens irrespective of their race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, case of race disparities, particularly in the Juvenile Justice System, continued to escalate. This essay thus aims to examine racial disparities in the juvenile justice system in America.

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Numerous studies from both legal and behavioral perspectives have concluded that the one the primary cause of the disparities have been the continued police practices of racial profiling that are promoting the arrest of the colored youths more as compared to the white youths. There are cases where equality has not been observed while dealing with minority groups in the entire justice system. Several instances of courts, police, and other personnel giving preferential treatments to the white youths have been observed. Leaders have also raised their concerns about the racial selection of teens in the juvenile justice system. For instance, the Sussman and colleagues' case manifested the injustices practiced in Washington State (Robles-Ramamurthy & Watson, 50). Despite the efforts put in place to curb the issue, racial disparities continue to persist in the juvenile justice system.

Another major cause of the racial disparities in the Juvenile justice system is the collective combination of legislative and executive policies that have influenced policing practices that have systemically aimed at treating the colored offenders differently (Tonry, 2010). Tonry (2010) argues that while the crime rate among black youths is five to seven times those of the white teenagers, legislative and executive policy decisions are more severe towards the blacks than whites are. Emphasizes have been put on law enforcement policies to such crimes as drug abuse over preventive crimes. For instance, in New York, Drug law enforcement policies have focused considerable attention on the inner city and minority neighborhoods, where the most massive black American population lives.

Historically, racial disparities in juvenile justice have long existed since the slave period. Studies conducted during the 1980s showed that colored juveniles registered higher rates of confinement and detention compared with the white youth, with the black teen presenting a high chance to be sent to secured public facilities. In contrast, the white child was more likely to be sent to mental health facilities (Robles-Ramamurthy & Watson, 2019). In 1986, Dr. Ira Schwartz, who was the director of the Center for the Study of Youth Policy, gave a testimony showing how youths of color were being held in custody. The number of teenagers held was higher than the number of crimes they were committing (McCoy & Pearson, 2019). In another study by Huzinga and Elliott (1987) and Krisberg (1987); noted that incarcerated rates of the colored youth were three to four times higher than that of the White youth. The testimony that was given before the House Subcommittee on Human Resources painted the negative image of juvenile justice, which led to several youths of color receiving unnecessary punishments.

Several factors have contributed to the existence of racial disparities in juvenile justice. Some of these factors include child welfare, education, and mental health, which, according to McCoy et al. (2019), were the leading cause. Theincreased presentation of colered teenagers in the child welfare system, to a majority, has been viewed as the leading cause of youth involvement in the juvenile justice system (McCoy & Pearson, 2019). Research shows that youths of color in the child welfare system will most probably end up in juvenile justice compared to those in the public population. Similar resulted have also been reported by the Center for the Study of Social Policy in their 2009 report, which noted that youths in the child welfare were more prone to be involved in petty crimes resulting in their arrest. A majority of the children in the child welfare systems who tend to be victims of abuse, domestic violenc, and neglect are favorable factors to influence their engagement in delinquent behaviors. The level of poverty among the colored community, in general, forces the youth to find alternative means to meet their basic needs forcing many to engage in drug dealing and other crimes.

There has been a negative relationship between education and juvenile justice systems where the policies and procedures in the schools often lead to the arrest of juveniles (Robles-Ramamurthy & Watson, 2019; Mallett, 2016, p. 18). The youths of color have higher risks of being suspended or expelled, which serves as a risk factor to the juvenile justice system (Barrett & Antonis, 188). The zero-tolerance policies enacted from the 1990s have led to many of the student behaviors that could be managed by teachers, and school administrations become categorized as criminal behaviors requiring law enforcement involvement (McCoy & Pearson, 2019).

Youths of color are generally underserved by the mental health system, making them engage in behaviors that will lead to contact with the juvenile justice system (Martinez, Gudino, & Lau, 2013, p. 103). This outcome has been particularly highlighted in the child welfare systems where the minorities receive limited to no special mental health services that have been tailored to serve their history of exposure to domestic violence, neglect, and abuse (McCoy & Pearson, 2019).

Fortunately, various agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, as well as federal initiatives, have been put in place to address racial disparities issues in the juveniles system-for example, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2017, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention initiative, and the Reauthorization Act of 2017 are being implemented in the juvenile justice sytem in efforts to control and, eventually, eradicate racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. Jurisdictions could also obtain training, which will help reduce racial disparities. If well-executed, the causes of racial disparities in the juvenile justice system will be entirely eradicated in the juvenile justice system (McCoy & Pearson, 2019).

Nonetheless, there are increasing numbers of female youths of color in the criminal and juvenile justice system. Conventionally, the number of girls in the juvenile justice system has, for a long time, remained substantially low. However, the number has been increasing steadily, with the rate of girls in the juvenile justice system rising to 28% in 2014 from 12% in 2005 (Sickmund, Sladky, & Kang., 2018). For girls of color, these rates are alarming as the rate increased from 33% in 2005 to 36% in 2014. Thus, more attention is needed, especially in how the justice system strategies to address gender- and culture-responsiveness to direct intervention reduction efforts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the essay aimed to examine racial disparities in the juvenile justice system in America. It has been noted that despite the constitutional requirement for the United States justice system to be fair to all citizens, cases of racial disparities in the juvenile justice system continue to escalate. There are many cases of racial inequality in the juvenile justice system of America that need to be corrected to honor the constitutional right to equality irrespective of one's race, gender, or ethnicity. Law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with the executive, the legislative, and the overall justice system of the United States, are obligated to be fair to all its citizens and treat all offenders' equality to reduce and possibly eradicate disparities related to race, ethnicity, and gender.

References

Barrett, D. E. (2015). Juvenile delinquency recidivism: Are black and white youth vulnerable to the same risk factors? Behavioral Disorders, 40(3), 184-195.

Mallett, C. A. (2016). The school-to-prison pipeline: A critical review of the punitive paradigm shift. Child and adolescent social work journal, 33(1), 15-24.

Martinez, J. I., Gudino, O. G., & Lau, A. S. (2013). Problem-specific racial/ethnic disparities in pathways from maltreatment exposure to specialty mental health service use for youth in child welfare." 18.2 ():. Child maltreatment, 18(2), 98-107.

McCoy, H., & Pearson, E. (2019). Racial Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System. Criminal Justice, Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1288

Robles-Ramamurthy, B., & Watson, C. (2019). Examining Racial Disparities in Juvenile Justice. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.29158/JAAPL.003828-19

Sickmund, M., Sladky, A., & Kang., W. (2018). Easy access to juvenile court statistics: 1985-2016.

Tonry, M. (2010). The Social, Psychological, and Political Causes of Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System. 39 CRIME & JUST, 273. Retrieved from https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1511&context=faculty_articles