NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE FINDS NEW REPORT DOCUMENTING
PERVASIVE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
SERVES AS CLARION CALL FOR NATIONAL ACTION

Statement By Hugh B. Price
President
National Urban League
The National Urban League finds that a new comprehensive report, And Justice for Some, on the disparate treatment that minority youth are receiving throughout the juvenile justice system leaves no doubt that we are faced with a very serious national civil rights issue, virtually making our system juvenile injustice. What is most disturbing about the findings is the pervasive nature of the discriminatory treatment of minority youth at each stage of the juvenile justice system.

According to the report, the justice system falls more heavily on minority youth than on white youth charged with similar offenses — and that this occurs at every stage of the system, including filing of charges, detention before trial, waiver to adult criminal court, incarceration in juvenile facilities, and incarceration in adult prisons. For example, the report finds that African-American youth are six times more likely to be incarcerated in public facilities than white youth even when they are charged with the same offenses and have no prior commitment history. In 1997, three out of four youth under age 18 who were admitted to adult prisons were youth of color!

If one wants to reduce the incidence of juvenile crime, does it make sense to put young people convicted of — or merely charged with — wrongdoing in jails and prisons with adult offenders?

Children in adult jails are far more likely to get from their adult jail mates the kind of "schooling" and "counseling" that will produce more, not less, crime. And we can add that children in adult jails are 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than those in juvenile facilities, and 8 times more likely to commit suicide. This is a fate that minority youth will be disproportionately and unjustly relegated to if we follow the posturing of politicians who prefer tough-talk to real solutions. The self-interested exhortations of the prison lobby to build more and more prisons won’t lower crime either. By contrast, we know that schools that engage the intellects of their students do help reduce juvenile crime. So, too, do after-school programs that put youngsters in touch with caring adults who can help them discover their positive interests and talents.

The National Urban League strongly believes that, in light of the findings from the And Justice for Some report, Congress would be exacerbating an already intolerable situation for African-American and other minority youth if it passed pending juvenile justice legislation. Throughout House and Senate deliberations on the juvenile justice bills, the National Urban League expressed its serious concern and opposition to these bills given the harmful provisions that would, among other things, try more children as adults, land them in adult jails -- and if the Senate language prevails, totally eviscerate the current law requiring states to assess and address the disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) of juveniles. While the House bill contains language that improves upon current law with respect to the DMC requirement, it would become nonexistent in 2004 because the House adopted a provision to sunset the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) that contains the DMC requirement.

The National Urban League is pleased to join other civil rights groups and the Building Blocks for Youth initiative in calling for national, state and local action to address the racial disparities throughout the juvenile justice system. We call upon the President, the Attorney General, and the Presidential Candidates to (1) meet with civil rights leaders and Building Blocks for Youth Partners to discuss what they have done to address this issue and their plans for the future, and (2) oppose the current juvenile justice bills pending in conference committee and instead pass legislation that represents true efforts to improve our juvenile justice system by placing emphasis where it belongs — on prevention, rehabilitation, and civil rights!

Hugh B. Price is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, the nation’s premier social service and civil rights organization serving African-Americans and others who are striving to enter the economic mainstream. He was appointed on July 1, 1994.