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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:43 am
Time: 2:43 am
Results for minorities (mississippi)
1 results foundAuthor: Nored, Lisa S. Title: Disproportionate Minority Contact in Mississippi Summary: In recent years, disparities among racial minorities at various stages in the criminal justice system have garnered increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. Much, if not most, of the existing research has been focused primarily on highly publicized issues, such as racial profiling and increased sentences for offenses commonly associated with minorities (i.e. selling crack cocaine). Recently, attention has shifted toward examining these issues as they pertain to juvenile offenders. This shift is indeed appropriate, in that the majority of crime-related research has shown that juvenile delinquency is a substantial predictor of adult criminal behavior. Historically, research regarding race and delinquent juvenile populations was focused on detention and confinement or offense categories (i.e. status offenses versus criminal offenses). As efforts to study juvenile offenders progressed, it was evident that there was a need to focus research efforts on instances of disproportionate confinement among members of racial minorities. Initial research concerning minority juveniles was triggered by the 1988 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, which required states to collect data and annually report the number of incarcerated juveniles using disproportionate representation indexes (DRIs), which compared incarcerated minority juvenile offenders to their respective at-risk populations. This index was used to assess whether minority juveniles were overrepresented in the context of secure detention (including training schools) – in short, this index assessed instances of disproportionate minority confinement (the “old” DMC). Revisions to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in 2002 included provisions that increased the scope of investigation regarding disproportionate minority representation in the juvenile justice system as well as strengthened statistical methods for detecting disparities among individual racial and ethnic categories. Currently, DMC estimates are focused on youths age 10-17 and limited to those offenders who committed delinquent acts rather than status offenses. Revisions to the JJDP Act also mandated investigation regarding instances of contact rather than confinement – focusing on key individual points within the juvenile justice system. As a result, rates of contact can be compared at each stage of the juvenile justice process, from arrest to adjudication. Comparisons are made using the relative rate index (RRI), which compares proportionate instances of occurrences between Caucasian and minority juveniles, based on the size of their respective at-risk populations. Hence, instances of disproportionate minority contact (the “new” DMC) can be assessed at each individual stage of the juvenile justice process. Typically, the most difficult part of any research project is to synthesize results of various analyses and formulate conclusions based on limited information. For this project, however, data collection was the most difficult task. Although there were several methodological issues which likely affected the accuracy of RRI estimates, several conclusions can be confidently made regarding DMC in Mississippi: • Disproportionate representation does not equate to discrimination. It is important to understand that disproportionate minority contact is not directly indicative of prejudice or racism. The purpose of examining instances of DMC is to evaluate each stage of the juvenile justice process and determine if any patterns of DMC exist, and if so, investigate why. • Data collection strategies were vulnerable to repeat offenders. Due to the manner in which agencies maintained official records, one juvenile arrested six times over the period of one year would appear as six separate contacts for that year. Currently, there is no way to account for offenders with multiple appearances in the juvenile justice system. • There are stages that warrant further investigation. Arrest, referral, and secure confinement are points of contact which exhibited relatively high RRI estimates in the observed counties, specifically those for African-American youths. • RRI estimates were lower than expected. Although each county exhibited elevated RRI estimates, no consistent pattern of disparate treatment emerged so as to indicate abusive practices within any agency. • The phrase “statistically significant” is not translated as “meaningful difference.” RRI estimates are based on the chi-square distribution. For a number of reasons, most of which are beyond the scope of this report, accepting an RRI estimate based on statistical significance alone is not wise. In this case, sample size (total number of juvenile contacts per year) can affect statistical significance just as easily as disproportionate representation of a minority group at a point of contact. Put simply, RRI estimates should be used to gauge trends and should not be treated as hard evidence of discrimination. • Both law enforcement and juvenile justice agencies are not practicing consistent data collection strategies. Few agencies utilized a database software package beyond that which came with their computer. One agency had a MYCIDS workstation, but had yet to receive training – and therefore could not use it. Other agencies simply did not have the technological resources to submit the data as requested, and resorted to manual calculations using hard-copy records. Details: Hattiesburg, MS: Mississippi Statistical Analysis Center, 2008(?). 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 11, 2011 at: http://www.usm.edu/cj/MSSAC/2007%20DMC%20Report%20(Final%2011-25-08).pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.usm.edu/cj/MSSAC/2007%20DMC%20Report%20(Final%2011-25-08).pdf Shelf Number: 118744 Keywords: Juvenile OffendersMinorities (Mississippi)Minority Offenders |