An often overlooked but major injustice is how our juvenile justice system impacts Black and Hispanic youth and their families, limiting their ability to reach their full potential and thrive in their communities. In fact, the disparities are so bad that a recent Marshall Project article noted that “though the racial inequality in youth detention has long been stark, it's wider than ever.”
A recent Annie E. Casey Foundation study showed that youth of color are less likely to be diverted from the juvenile justice system, even when the offense by white youth is more serious, noting, “a white youth involved in an offense against a person, such as aggravated assault, is more likely to be diverted than an African American youth involved in an offense against public order, such as trespassing or graffiti.” Similarly, The Sentencing Project found that “Latino youth are 65 percent more likely to be detained or committed than their white peers.”
Jeff Fleischer
This is a disparity that we cannot ignore, and a significant problem that amplifies the need for comprehensive and urgent solutions.
What we know for sure is that gross disinvestment in Black and Hispanic communities has perpetuated and exacerbated structural and institutional racism. For many youth, the reality is that we spend more resources on them once they are in the system than we do to support them in their communities and keep them out of the justice system. For example, Pennsylvania, a state that recently convened a task force to reform its juvenile justice system, currently spends 80% of its $349 million budget for juvenile delinquency services on some type of placement for young people and only 20% on community-based alternatives.
JJIE Racial-Ethnic Fairness Section:
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Worse is that this racial and ethnic injustice is born out of things we can change but haven’t. That Marshall Project article noted, “[y]oung people of color also have fewer alternatives to detention available in their neighborhoods. Judges are less likely to approve release for teens who do not have access to such resources." Developing stronger and new neighborhood resources to serve young people can give judges the effective and reliable resources they need to divert a child they may otherwise confine.
Neighborhoods need programs across lifespan
But it will take more than juvenile justice systems to end this racial and ethnic disparity. The National Human Services Assembly, the Bryn Mawr Social Justice Initiative and Youth Advocate Programs recently conducted three webinars to spotlight programs that serve high-need, high-risk youth, especially Black and Hispanic youth, and divert from the justice system by redirecting resources from funding detention and prison to investing in an array of community-based supports and services. These include the programs Save our Streets Brooklyn and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth and programs from The Deaconess Foundation, Washington, D.C., Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Youth Advocate Program.
Programs like these, mobilized alongside others, can and should play a powerful role to build strong community foundations that keep young people out of the youth justice system and enable them to better contribute to their communities. The human service sector as a whole should take responsibility to develop needed resources in close and true equal partnership with the youth and families it serves, especially Black and brown families. Communities need both formal and informal supports to divert young people from the system. Our human service systems should advocate for these resources to expand their reach and help more young people stay safe and thriving in the communities where they live.
Adolph P. Falcón
States also must change the paradigm from spending the large bulk of their youth-serving funds on institutionalizing youth and instead spend it on diversion, community-led programs and intensive alternatives to secure care. These include substance abuse, behavioral health, education, youth and adult employment, subsidized employment, vocational training and apprenticeships, housing, homelessness, recreation, cultural activities, domestic violence, transportation, life skills, health, senior citizens, development of multigeneration approaches and advocacy that are core supports across the lifespan.
One example is a 20-plus organization collaborative in Albuquerque, New Mexico, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, that recently brought together youth-serving organizations and families in efforts to "shape promising futures for young people — even after they've made mistakes." This is the kind of collaborative we need more of, and especially in those communities that are chronically underserved, where many young people don’t get diverted from the youth justice system.
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We don’t need these resources in select communities — we need them everywhere, and especially where Black and Hispanic youth live. We end the racial and ethnic injustice when we adequately resource our community-based organizations to fully put their missions into action and when we support communities and families, not juvenile jails and prisons.
Jeff Fleischer, MSW, is board chair of the National Human Services Assembly and CEO of Youth Advocate Programs Inc.
Adolph P. Falcón, M.P.P., is executive vice president of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health.