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Juvenile Justice System Disproportionate Minority Contact
Juvenile Justice System Race by Locality Database
Database Content
The database contains numerical and percentile information, about the “at-risk” juvenile population, aged 10 to 17, by race, for each Virginia locality, and for the State. Population information was taken from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention web site at http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/ezapop/
The database also contains 2005 data by locality and race for children at various stages of the juvenile justice system - at intake, in secure detention facilities, and in juvenile correctional centers. That information was provided by the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Percentages for all categories were computed by DCJS, Juvenile Services Section.
Charts and Tables
To see pie charts and tables of the racial distribution of the at-risk juvenile population and of children at various stages of the juvenile justice system, use the database below.
Information about the relative rate index, a measure of disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system, follows the database tables.
Database Tables
Choose a Locality or Virginia State:
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At-Risk Juvenile Population, aged 10-17, by Race, 2004.
Choose a Stage in the Juvenile Justice System:
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Cases Referred to Juvenile Court, Delinquent Offenses, 2005
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Cases Referred to Juvenile Court, Status Offenses Only, 2005
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Cases Referred to Juvenile Court, Technical Violation Offenses, 2005
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Total Cases Referred to Juvenile Court, 2005
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Cases Diverted, Delinquent Offenses, 2005
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Cases Diverted, Status Offenses Only, 2005
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Cases Diverted, Technical Violation Offenses, 2005
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Total Cases Diverted, 2005
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Cases Involving Secure Detention (Admissions), 2005
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Cases Petitioned to Juvenile Court, Delinquent Offenses, 2005
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Cases Petitioned to Juvenile Court, Status Offenses Only, 2005
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Cases Petitioned to Juvenile Court, Technical Violation Offenses, 2005
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Total Cases Petitioned to Juvenile Court, 2005
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Cases Resulting in Confinement in Secure Juvenile Correctional Facilities (Commitments), 2005
Get the Relative Rate Index
The Relative Rate Index
The relative rate index is a measure of disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system. The federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has determined that all States will use this method.
The computational procedure for obtaining the relative rate index is to first
compare percentages of minorities and whites at a given stage to those percentages
at the previous stage of the juvenile justice system. For example, the percentage
referred to juvenile court for each race is compared to the at-risk population
for each race. The percentage diverted is compared to the percentage referred
to juvenile court. Those computations provide the rate of occurrence at each
stage for white youth and for youth in each minority group. The relative rate
index is the rate of occurrence of white youth to each minority group. For example,
if the rate of occurrence is 45.97 for white youth and 97.54 for African American
youth, the relative rate index is 2.12 (97.54/45.97). In the example, African
American youth are just over 2 times as likely as white youth to be in the system
at that stage.
A PowerPoint presentation that explains the use of the relative rate index is available on the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention web site at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc/pdf/dmc2003.pps.
To compute relative rate indices for the children in the system in your locality, follow this procedure:
- Choose the locality or State data that you require from the database below.
- The result will be a data entry section table with racial data for the juvenile population and for cases at stages of the juvenile justice system in your locality.
- Print the resulting data entry section table which will have your data entered (ensure that the page orientation is set to landscape or it will be chopped off at the side (go to file, page setup)
- Download the Microsoft Excel file, OJJDP Relative
Rate Index, and enter the data from your printed form onto the identical data entry page. Relative rate indices for each racial group and a summary will compute automatically for you.
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Data Entry page for computation of relative rate index.
Disproportionate Minority Contact Plan
Resources
Links to Sites and Publications
- Virginia: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings. September, 2002. The American Bar Association and the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center. Available online at http://www.njdc.info/pdf/Virginia%20Assessment.pdf.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Disproportionate Minority Contact web site, www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc.
- Building Blocks for Youth web site www.buildingblocksforyouth.org.
- The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness and Equity web site www.burnsinstitute.org.
- Unequal Justice: African Americans in the Virginia Criminal Justice System: Report of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, available online at www.usccr.gov/pubs/sac/va0400/main.htm.
- Virginia’s Three-Year Plan, 2006-2008, under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, Available online at www.dcjs.virginia.gov/juvenile/resources.
- Short, J., & Sharp, C. (2005). Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System. Child Welfare League of America, National Center for Program Leadership, Juvenile Justice Division. Available online at www.cwla.org/programs/juvenilejustice/disproportionate.htm.
Contact Information
- For information regarding disproportionate minority contact or about technical assistance, contact Lloyd Young, Virginia’s Compliance Monitor and DMC Coordinator, via
e-mail or by telephone at 804.786.3967.
- For information about the data, contact Laurel Marks via e-mail or phone at 804.786.3462.
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