1. African American Children and Juvenile Justice in the 19th Century
Enslavement to
Separate and Unequal

2. Treatment of Children during the Slave System and Reconstruction

3. Enslaved Children in 19th Century America
Considered property of the slave owner for the purpose of providing free labor
No hope of upward mobility
Education was forbidden (literacy rate less than 5%)
Constant fear of being sold and separated from family
No special institutions for children (Slave states)
Severe penalties including death for breaking the law

4. The scars of slavery (circa 1863)

5. Houses of Refuge and African American Children
Black children often excluded from most houses of refuge
When admitted they were often subject to worse treatment than other youth
Placed in adult jails and prisons
Black children viewed as less salvageable but in need of “removal from temptation and evil example and put under restraint and discipline”

6. House of Refuge for Colored Juvenile Delinquents Opened in Philadelphia in1849
Only 19th century segregated institution opened in a Northern state
Funded by anti slavery groups

7. African American Children in the Post Slavery Era
White backlash, the KKK and constant threat of violence
Jim Crow laws after 1877
Extreme poverty and the struggle to survive
Limited access to education
No legal protections from discrimination
Little opportunity for upward mobility

8. Plessey v Ferguson (1896)
Upheld state laws requiring racial separation.
Established the doctrine of separate but equal and became the basis for maintaining separate institutions for white and black children until 1954

9. Separate But Not Equal Institutions for Black Youth

10. Jane Serepta “Jennie” Dean (1837-1926)
Founded Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth (1893)

11. Janie Porter Barrett (1865 –1948)
Established Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls (1915)

12. Characteristics of African American Institutions in post slavery era
Followed the practices of other children’s institutions
Based on the need to impose social control
Daily regime based on hard work, education, and religious teaching
Institutions for Black youth suffered from severe lack of funding
Institutions remained segregated into the 1960s

13. The path from Separate but Equal
Brown v Board of Education
Civil rights act of 1964

14. What is a racial disparity?
The meaning of racial disparity. The term racial disparity refers to a difference that may or may not be related to discrimination. Criminal justice experts distinguish between legal and extralegal factors to explain racial disparities in criminal justice.

15. Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC)
refers to the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.

16. African American Youth in the Juvenile Justice System Today
Discrimination in arrests
Discrimination in prosecutions
Discrimination in disposition

17. Racial disparity in African American in arrests -
No clear evidence of overall bias in arrests of Black vs White youth
Evidence of bias in arrests of Black youth when the victim is White
Race as a Factor in Juvenile Arrests Carl E. Pope and Howard N. Snyder 2003

18. Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Prosecution and Sentencing
Study in LA by Males and Macallair Found:
Black and Latino youth transferred to adult court at higher rates than similarly situated Whites
Black and Latino youth sentenced to prison at higher rates than similarly situated Whites

19. Disproportionate contact of African Americans youth
Overall arrest rates declining but disproportionate racial impact persists
Youth of color experience higher commitment rates than Whites
The Sentencing Project