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Criminal-Defense
Articles > Building Block for
Youth
Building
Blocks for Youth
Americans oftentimes hear of
disparate treatment between white and black adult defendants
in criminal cases. The contention is that minority defendants
are treated less favorably in the criminal justice system
than are their white counterparts. Indeed, since the creation
of the United States, this has been the case. Even with the
reforms of the past half century, the disparity between whites
and minorities hangs on.
A significant number of studies
on conviction and sentencing trends in the American judicial
system demonstrate that minority defendants are convicted
at a proportionally higher rate than are white defendants.
Likewise, minority inmates are sentenced to longer terms of
incarceration than are their white counterparts.
When the juvenile justice system
is considered, the same disparities between white and minority
defendants and inmates is evident. Quite like the adult system,
white juveniles obtain lighter sentence. And, minority offenders
tend to receive far harsher treatment. What is even more of
a concern is the reality that white offenders tend to get
more support assistance than do their minority counterparts.
A white offender is able to easier access counseling and related
services than are minority offenders.
In recent years, a number of
not-for-profit organizations and associations have been established.
The goal of these groups is to try and bring a sense of evenhandedness
to the juvenile justice system. These not-for-profit organizations
were established to fill a void. Historically, the juvenile
justice system largely has been ignored. Since the 1950s,
little attention has been to reforming the juvenile justice
system. Public officials have not made the juvenile justice
system reform an agenda item. Consequently, coalitions and
the like have stepped in to fill the obvious void.
An example of one such organization is Building Blocks for
Youth. Building Blocks is committed to working to ensure a
sense of equality, justice and order in the juvenile justice
system.
Building Blocks as an initiative is an alliance of children
and youth advocates, researchers, law enforcement professionals
and community organizers that seeks to
1. Reduce overrepresentation and disparate treatment of youth
of color in the justice system;
2. Promote fair, rational and effective juvenile justice policies.
The initiative's partners include
the Youth Law Center, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice
Center, W. Haywood Burns Institute, Juvenile Law Center, Justice
Policy Institute, Minorities in Law Enforcement, National
Council on Crime and Delinquency, and Pretrial Services Resource
Center.
Building Blocks is supported by grants from an extensive number
of foundations dedicated to social action and community betterment.
One of the main benefactors of Building Blocks is the MacArthur
Foundation, one of the key underwriters of the Public Broadcasting
System.
Organizations like Building Blocks do everything from provide
legal representation to lobby governmental leaders for reform
of the system. It is likely that more and more of these organizations
and associations will surface during the next decade as the
disparity between the races increases. Indeed, absent an overhaul
of the juvenile justice system itself, it is likely that no
significant change will occur in the treatment of white and
minority juvenile offenders.
Further reading resources
American Chronicle | Pretrial Detention is Preventive Detention ...
May 1, 2008 ... Pretrial Detention is Preventive Detention for Many Minority Youth ... The young adult defendants are nearly always faced with excessively ...
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Pretrial Detention is Preventive Detention ...
May 2, 2008 ... Pretrial Detention is Preventive Detention for Many Minority Youth ... This has reduced the number of defendants who skip bail, ...
The Problem Of Overrepresentation Of Minority Youth In The Justice ...
The number of minority youth held in detention centers increased by 79% from ... enforcement policies and prior criminal records of minority defendants. ...
Black and Minority Ethnic Groups and Youth Offending (April 06 ...
disparate treatment of minority youth groups can occur in an indirect way, ..... Mulholland, H. (2003) 'Ethnic minority defendants 'denied equal treatment ...
VIOLENCE & INTIMIDATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
When white youth and minority youth were charged with the same offenses, ... system involve African American defendants at least 50 percent of the time; ...
Ontario Human Rights Commission
Stereotyping and its Consequence for Racial Minority Youth ... the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that when sentencing a defendant, it is appropriate for ...
CNN.com - Minority youth face tougher treatment in justice system ...
Embassy bombing defendants' confessions admissible, says U.S. Judge .... Minority youth are also more likely to be tried in adult courts and incarcerated in ...
?Ethnic Minority Young People: Differential treatment in the Youth ...
minority young people become involved with and are treated by youth justice ... probability of cases involving African/Caribbean defendants (aged under 14 ...
The W. Haywood Burns Institute
Minority youth detentions examined 6 counties offered funding to try to reduce ... offenders live so fewer children become defendants in the first place. ...
Westside Gazette spacer BlackPressUSA Network spacer spacer 6/29 ...
Brouhaha over treatment of Dunbar Village defendants obscures systemic problems inherent ... scores of minority youth are disproportionately arrested, ...
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