QUESTION: DMC - Disproportionate Minority Contact

question / pregunta: 

We are working with the Juvenile Justice System and Schools to reduce and eliminate DMC.

1.)Who are some of the leaders nationally that spearhead the work in DMC.

2.)How would you explain that the DMC is about race when Florida health and other professionals want to insist that it is only a human or gender rights issue.

Some resources

the Burns Institute is a good place to start.

http://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/index.html

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/profiles/BernardineDohrn

http://www.modelsforchange.net/directory/listing.html?tags=DMC+Action+Network

http://www.barry.edu/JJC specifically Florida-based resources

More Resources

  • This 2008 article by Alex Piquero provides a good overview and review of research: Disproportionate Minority Contact
  • A 2007 report on the 'separate but unequal' minority juvenile justice system: And Justice for Some. - other articles and resources on the NCCD website are of interest.
  • A follow-up report, 'Created Equal' is embedded in the 2009 report on the Judiciary Committee's hearings: Racial Disparities in the Justice System which includes informative testimony by the NCCD's Barry Krisberg

As to your second point, here's a chunk of Krisberg's testimony that pretty clearly illustrates the racial aspect:

Arrests

--Overall, the rates at which African Americans were arrested were 2.5 times higher than the arrest rates for Whites.

--Rates were even higher for certain categories of offenses: the rates at which African Americans were arrested for violent offenses and for drug offenses were each approximately 3.5 times the rate that Whites were arrested for those categories of offenses. Krisberg Testimony - 10/29/2009 Page 3

--African Americans were arrested at over 6 times the rate for Whites for murder, robbery, and gambling and were overrepresented in all specific offenses except alcohol related crimes.

--Native Americans were arrested at 1.5 times the rate for Whites, with higher disparity for certain violent and public order offenses.

--Asian Pacific Islanders were the only racial group to be underrepresented compared to Whites.

--The FBI, the primary source of offense and arrest data, does not disaggregate data by ethnicity.

Court Processing

--African Americans were more likely to be sentenced to prison and less likely to be sentenced to probation than Whites.

--The average prison sentence for violent crime was approximately one year longer for African Americans than for Whites.

--African Americans were convicted for drug charges at substantially higher rates than those for Whites. New Admissions to Prison

--African Americans were admitted to prison at a rate almost 6 times higher than that for Whites.

--Hispanics were admitted at 2 times the rate for Whites.

--Native Americans were admitted at over 4 times the rate for Whites.

--Native American females were admitted at over 6 times and African American females at 4 times the rate for White females.

--Rates of new admissions due to probation or parole revocations were much higher for people of color than for Whites.

Incarcerated in Prisons and Jails

--Nationwide, African Americans were incarcerated in state prison at 6 times the rate for Whites and in local jails at almost 5 times the rate for Whites.

--Hispanics were incarcerated at over 1.5 times the rate for Whites. Krisberg Testimony - 10/29/2009 Page 4

--Native Americans were incarcerated at over 2 times the rate for Whites.

--All individual states reported overrepresentation of African Americans among prison and jail inmates.

--The majority of states also reported that Hispanics and Native Americans were disproportionately confined. Probation and Parole

--African Americans were on probation at almost 3 times and on parole at over 5 times the rate for Whites.

--Hispanics and Native Americans were each on parole at 2 times the rate for Whites. Death Penalty

--The rate at which African Americans were on death row was almost 5 times the rate for Whites.

Recidivism

--African Americans were generally more likely to recidivate than Whites or Hispanics.

--When ethnicity was reported, Hispanics were generally less likely to recidivate than non- Hispanics.

Juveniles

--African American rates of residential placement were over 4 times, Hispanic rates 2 times, and Native Americans 3 times those for Whites.

--Rates of youth admitted to adult prisons were 7 times higher for African Americans and over 2 times as high for Native Americans as for White youth.

--Disparity in the juvenile justice system is the worst at the deepest levels of the system.

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