disparity

Schenectady County officials have a new approach resulting in a 13% increase in Black youth steered away from the juvenile justice system.

The Chronicle of Social Change reported yesterday on new research about racial disparity in juvenile facilities in the wake of a decade that saw the juvenile incarceration rate drop 41 percent.

Racial disparity in juvenile facilities may have widened as the overall number of youths declined in recent years, according to a report released today by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

President Obama hinted at White House initiative focused on assisting young men of color in his State of the Union, and officially introduced it as “My Brother’s Keeper” in late February.

This brief is a precursor to forthcoming data and research about the impact, or lack of it, connected to differential response strategies in child welfare services. The concept has gained steam as a way to counter racial disproportionality in the child welfare system by offering voluntary services to families known to the system, but whom caseworkers believe can be assisted without an open child protection case.

The racial disproportionality in the child welfare system is high among black children, say the study’s four co-authors, and mounting evidence suggests that this disparity is not attributable to bias on behalf of child welfare workers or child welfare policies.