Racial and Ethnic Disparities
From the executive summary: “In considering what serves young people well, it is imperative that we address these systemic barriers and develop innovative strategies, leaving space for healing outside of and in tandem with the traditional mental health system. We must be expansive in our thinking about what supports and strengthens youth mental health –…
Creates a case for holding states liable for abdicating their duty to ensure that all children have zealous representation.
Youth probation is the most common form of punishment for youth in the United States criminal legal system, with nearly a quarter of a million youth currently under supervision. Yet the role youth probation conditions play in the incarceration of youth has not been the focus of legal scholarship. Youth probation is a court-imposed intervention…
From the abstract: “Roughly one in four juveniles arrested in the U.S. spend time in a detention center prior to their court date. To study the consequences of this practice for youth, we link the universe of individual public school records in Michigan to juvenile and adult criminal justice records. Using a combination of exact…
From the abstract: “Roughly one in four juveniles arrested in the U.S. spend time in a detention center prior to their court date. To study the consequences of this practice for youth, we link the universe of individual public school records in Michigan to juvenile and adult criminal justice records. Using a combination of exact…
From the introduction: “One of our goals in producing this report is to inform school administrators, board members, and parent and student stakeholders, giving details about which groups of students are disproportionately arrested and about the gaps that exist in data reporting. We also want to provide guidance on how to address these issues. We…
This executive summary of from the Giffords Law Center provides an overview of diversion programs for nonviolent gun possession focusing on the Pathways to New Beginnings program in Minneapolis. Additionally, the resource includes recidivism rates for people who participated in the program and offers recommendations to prosecutors and state legislators on these types of diversion…
From the abstract: “This Article considers an approach to pretrial reform focused on improving the quality of defense counsel. In Philadelphia, a substantial fraction of people facing criminal charges are detained following rapid preliminary hearings where initial release conditions are set by bail magistrates operating with limited information. Beginning in 2017, the Defender Association of…
This brief by the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, Bronx Defenders, and Brooklyn Defenders was filed in support of petitioners in the Bruen case. The brief points to the racialized history of denying Black and Latine people lawful licenses to carry guns and outlines racial disparities in gun possession cases. Amici submit this brief “because we…
From the introduction: “In the 2020 survey, an overwhelming majority of judges and probation administrators responded that efforts to promote probation practice changes should be grounded in research and be data-driven. In addition, most indicated that support for probation transformation would grow if reforms helped to address the challenge of improving racial/ethnic equity. More specifically,…
From the Urban Institute: Jurisdictions across the country are changing how they administer juvenile probation and better aligning policy and practice with developmental science and positive youth development to improve outcomes for youth, families, and communities. These changes often advance two goals: divert most youth from system involvement altogether and shrink probation caseloads, and change…
From the abstract: “The term wrongful conviction typically refers to the conviction or adjudication of individuals who are factually innocent. Decades of research has rightfully focused on uncovering contributing factors of convictions of factually innocent people to inform policy and practice. However, in this paper we expand our conceptualization of wrongful conviction. Specifically, we propose…
From the conclusion: “Washington, DC has severe racial disparities in its justice-involved population. That should alarm local leadership and its residents. These disparities are rooted in policing practices that target communities of color, a lack of investment and opportunity in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and an overly punitive sentencing, parole, and corrections system. The current system…
From the introduction: “This brief summarizes key findings from an unprecedented research study conducted by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center on the impact of juvenile justice system involvement—particularly probation— on school attendance in South Carolina and challenges jurisdictions across the country—as well as the broader field—to reconsider whether system involvement is the…
The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Youth Justice Fairness & Equity released a report outlining the history of how youth of color have been treated in the juvenile legal system over time as a framework for meaningfully engaging in the fight against mass incarceration. “Trying to meaningfully address the unacceptable levels of racial and ethnic…
From the introduction: “This brief presents the research case for eliminating the use of correctional confinement or detention in response to technical violations of juvenile probation.”
From the introduction: “Justice Policy Institute found that the average cost of the most expensive confinement option for a young person in 48 states was $588 per day, or $214,620 per year. The data show that in 40 states taxpayers spend at least $100,000 a year for a single young person’s confinement, and in 12…
From the introduction: “Communities across the country have come together to demand meaningful changes to law enforcement practices in the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of the police. The focus has rightly been on how deadly police actions have had an outsized impact on…
From the Abstract: “Technical probation violations are common among probation-involved youth and, across many jurisdictions, may result in detention or residential placement. The current study examined prevalence of technical violations occurring during one’s first probation period, the average time to technical violation, and individual-level and justice-related factors related to technical violations among probation-involved youth in…
