Youth Minority Jasmine Delgadillo delgadja@Sonoma.edu Sonoma State University Commentary #6

Youth and Crime According to the UCR: We are able to compare 4 racial groups; whites, African Americans, American Indians, and Asians Through this data, we see a disparity even in the juvenile justice system African Americans make up 31.3% of this population, and account for high arrests rates of crimes such as , murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, robbery and violent crime

Juvenile Court The Juvenile Court system is a lot different than the adult court There is no jury in a juvenile court In a Juvenile Court, youth are adjudicated and not sentenced This institution focuses on rehabilitation rather then retributive punishment 90% of dispositions are Probation

Kent v. United States The court ruled that waiver hearings must measure up to “the essentials of due process and fair treatment.” How it affected juveniles: Juveniles facing waiver are entitled to representation by counsel, access to social services records, and a written statement of the reasons for the waiver. (Walker,476) There are a number of criteria used in the courts decision making process for this to happen Some of the things the court looks at are: the seriousness of the offense, was the offense against a person or property, maturity of juvenile

Racial and Socio Economic Disparities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oiMfkBeL3k This video goes into detail of how there are racial disparities in our system, and how minority youths are being targeted These kids are growing up in areas with high crime rates, and become a product of their environment We need to focus on something deeper than the delinquent acts and crimes being committed, but rather why these things are happening It is important to focus on their background and help rehabilitate these things, so that we can deter further crime down the road, and keep these kids out of the CJS

My thoughts Overall, I believe it is important to put our focus and resources into the Juvenile System. Our youth are the future of our world, and if we are unable to tackle these problems early on, they will continue in the revolving door process and end up in the Adult System. As we see have seen through data, the numbers of racial groups and crimes reflect in a very similar way as to those of adults. Is there anything that our system can do to reduce these disparities, or does it fall on us to educate those around us, and push for reform? Love this Jasmine!!!!

References Walker, Samuel. n.d. “10, Minortiy Youth and Crime.” in The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Youtube.Com(2017) Disproportionate Minority. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oiMfkBeL3k