OJJDP Bulletin -- December 1998--Disproportionate Minority Confinement: Lessons Learned From Five States


Shay Bilchik, Administrator	December 1998

Disproportionate Minority Confinement: Lessons Learned From Five States

Patricia Devine, Kathleen Coolbaugh, and Susan Jenkins

What Is Meant by �Disproportionate Minority Confinement�?

Developing Solutions to Minority Overrepresentation

Assigning Organizational Responsibility

Analyzing Data To Identify the Extent of the Problem

Identifying Underlying Factors

Creating New and Enhancing Existing DMC Interventions

Monitoring DMC Interventions

For Further Information

NCJ 173420

From the Administrator

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is committed to ensuring that this country appropriately address situations where there is disproportionate confinement of minority offenders in the Nation’s juvenile justice system. Accordingly, we should be concerned that nearly 7 out of 10 youth in secure confinement are minority juveniles—a rate more than double their percentage in the youth population.

In 1991, OJJDP established its Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC) initiative to assist States in their efforts to address DMC issues, as provided by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. Subsequently, OJJDP awarded funds to five States (Arizona, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and Oregon) to test various approaches for addressing DMC.

This Bulletin describes how the pilot States assessed the extent to which minority juveniles were disproportionately confined by their juvenile justice systems, designed comprehensive DMC strategies, and implemented interventions to address identified problems.

While specific outcomes varied, the lessons learned from the collective experience of the pilot States should prove valuable in enhancing our efforts to reduce DMC and to guarantee appropriate treatment for every youth involved with the juvenile justice system.

Shay Bilchik
Administrator

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

This Bulletin was prepared under grant number OJP–95–C–006 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. DMC evaluation activities occurred under contract number OJP–91–C–011 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.

Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of Justice.

Acknowledgments

This Bulletin was prepared by Patricia Devine and Kathleen Coolbaugh, principals at Caliber Associates, and Susan Jenkins, a senior associate of the firm. The authors are grateful to Dr. William Feyerherm of Portland State University for his considerable contributions throughout the evaluation and to the many people at both the State and local levels in the pilot States, particularly the juvenile justice specialists, who gave generously of their time in granting interviews, providing data, following up on issues or questions, and in general making the evaluation a rewarding and meaningful process.

Photograph of jail copyright© 1998 Corbis Corporation; photograph of courtroom copyright © 1998 Weststock.

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