This week, I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer and shoot photos at the "2008 Governor's Summit on Eliminating Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System."
The conference brought together social work professionals, lawyers, judges, elected officials, community advocates and others who want to make a difference in the lives of at-risk minority youth. Panel discussions and presentations explored successful approaches to engaging families, youth, schools, communities and policy-makers in eliminating the overrepresentation of minority youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
The event was organized by the Oregon Youth Authority and the Commission on Children and Families, in partnership with the national Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) and the Multnomah County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council. Topics discussed include gang prevention and intervention, mental health and addictions, engaging families and youth, and more. The conference is one of the ways that CJJ accomplishes its mission to "build safe communities one child at a time by ensuring that all children and families are treated fairly and given the resources and support to be positive and productive contributors to society."
Some of the stats cited in the presentations reveal that much still needs to be done to address the issues:
Nationwide, one of every three young black males is in prison, on probation, or on parole.
The arrest rate among African American youth (ages 10-17) was nearly twice the rate of their white peers.
Alcohol-related arrests for American Indians under age 18 are more than twice the national average.
In six states, Latino youth are at least three times more likely to be incarcerated than whites.
At the sentencing stage of the juvenile court system, Latino children were sent to detention and correctional facilities more often and for longer periods than whites who had committed the same offenses.
American Indian and Native Alaskan youth comprise 1.1% of the national population. More than 60% of incarcerated young offenders under federal jurisdiction were American Indian.
