A Test of Fairness

The mission of the Connecticut juvenile justice system is to collaboratively promote and administer prevention, justice, and effective treatment in a fair, timely, and appropriate manner with dignity and respect for the individual needs of children, youth, and families.

Connecticut Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan: Building Toward a Better Future, 2006

Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC)

• Minority kids overrepresented in the juvenile justice system

• Treated more harshly at certain points there

Test question oneWhich CT kids are more likely to be:

Referred to court?

Placed in secure holding?

Taken to detention?

Not released from detention prior to case disposition?

Transferred to adult court?

Spend more time in CJTS?

Black Black Black

Black Black Black

White

White

White

White

White

White

Hispanic

Hispanic Hispanic

Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic

Source: A Second Reassessment of Disproportionate Minority Contact in Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System, OPM and Spectrum Associates 2009

Which states have DMC?

All of them

Why do we have DMC?

Because minority kidscommit more crime.

FALSEIn national surveys where youth reporton their own behavior, we find that kids

engage in very similar behaviorsat very similar rates.

Minority kids do the same things white kids do. But we treat kids of color more harshly.

2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance

Why do we have DMC?

Because of poverty.

FALSEConnecticut studies weighed how

coming from a low-income neighborhood affects treatment. Poverty is a

disadvantage, but it does not accountfor the difference in treatment.

Source: A Second Reassessment of Disproportionate Minority Contact in Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System, OPM and Spectrum Associates 2009

Why do we have DMC?

Because there’s more crime where these kids live – in cities.

FALSEThe rates of disproportion in how kids of different races enter the system are even worse in Connecticut’s suburban and rural

communities than they are in the cities.

Source: A Second Reassessment of Disproportionate Minority Contact in Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System, OPM and Spectrum Associates 2009

DMC is real.

Race alone is a factorin how children are treated.

So we have to solve the whole,national problem of racism

to help our kids now?

FALSETargeted policy changes

make a difference.

History Lesson

• In 1995, the state found minority kids were being placed in detention at higher rates than their white peers for all offenses.

• Connecticut then changed practice. Police now get a court order before taking a child to detention, unless he or she is charged with a SJO.

• In the 2001 (and 2009) study the disparity for non-SJO detention admissions disappeared.

Learning from History

Now minority kids accused of SJOs are getting detained more than their white peers.

More than 50 charges are deemed SJOs.

What can we do about it?

Require a court orderto detain a juvenile for an SJO.

• Going to detention can be traumatic• Triggers more serious consequences as

the child moves through the system• Detention costs $377/day/kid. We can’t

afford to put kids in detention because of the color of their skin.

• Requiring the court order is a zero cost solution.

Will this solve DMC?

It is a good first step, but we need to do more, including:

•Using data to boost accountability•Supporting LISTS who wish to focus on DMC locally•Bringing kids back from out-of-state placements•Reducing in-school arrests

Extra Credit

• Betrays our own values• Harms kids, families, communities• Wastes money by sending kids to

the system inappropriately• Wastes money by sending kids too

deep into the system

How does DMC hurt Connecticut?

Concrete costs

Avg. daily cost

Detention $377

Secure residential $562

CJTS $774

Who is hurt by DMC?

Every taxpayer in Connecticut