Disproportionate Minority Contact with the Juvenile Justice System in New Mexico

1. Disproportionate Minority Contact with the Juvenile Justice System in New Mexico A Presentation by the Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) at New Mexico State University. Updated June 2009

2. What is DMC? Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), in this case, refers to the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system as compared to their proportion in the population.

3. D-Disproportionate A fair juvenile justice system is assumed to mean that youth of color will come into contact with the system at a rate that is proportionate to their population. Because youth of color represent a higher proportion of those youth in the system than in a given population, their representation is disproportionate.

4. D-Disproportionate This means that one or two things are happening: 1) race/ethnicity is impacting treatment in the juvenile justice system, and/or 2) youth of color are committing delinquent offenses (or more serious offenses) at a rate that is also disproportionate.

5. M-Minority For purposes of DMC, the most important aspects of minority status have to do with relative power, wealth, and privilege in society rather than with the number of people who share your race or ethnicity. There is an important difference between numerical minority (having smaller numbers in your race/ethnic category) and minority status in the distribution of power, wealth, and privilege in society.

6. C-Contact Because minorities ended up being confined at rates much higher than found in the aggregate population (especially when compared to whites), historically, DMC focused on minority youth confinement. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002 broadened the DMC concept to encompass all stages of the juvenile justice process and move the focus beyond confinement.

7. Points of Contact Arrest/Referral for intake Referral to district attorney Diversion Secure pre-adjudicatory detention Filing of petition with court Adjudication Disposition (probation, commitment/confinement) Transfer to adult court 

8. DMC Nationwide Across the nation, rates of overrepresentation increase as children go through the system. Youth of color are disproportionately represented in all stages of the juvenile justice system in the United States.

9. DMC in New Mexico 50% percent of all youth in New Mexico are Latino/Hispanic followed by 34% white and 12.6% American Indian. Blacks make up 2% of the population. Overall, minority youth of color make up 66% of the state’s population aged 10-17.

10. DMC in New Mexico In 2007, minority youth of color represented: 76% of arrests of youth 78% of referrals to the Children’s Court Attorney 79% of the cases involving pre-adjudicatory detention 78% of cases with a petition filed 78% of cases with a finding of delinquency 84% of cases resulting in secure confinement at disposition

11. Measuring DMC What is an RRI? A means of comparing the rates of juvenile justice contact experienced by different groups of youth. For each racial group, using a set of decision process rates (e.g., arrest rate, juvenile court referral rate, detention rate, diversion rate, petition rate, waiver rate, adjudication rate, etc.) an RRI can be developed. By dividing one group's rate for a decision point by another group's rate at the same decision point, the relative rate (or the relative size of one rate to the other) can be calculated.

13. DMC in New Mexico African American youth are arrested at over twice the rate of white youth, are half as likely to have their cases diverted, and are 1.5 times as likely to be referred to the district attorney for prosecution. They are more likely to experience secure confinement at disposition at a rate over 1.5 times that of white youth. African American youth are also underrepresented in cases diverted out of the system (RRI of .47).

14. DMC in New Mexico Hispanic/Latino youth are arrested at almost twice the rate of white youth, are more likely to have their cases referred to the district attorney for prosecution as well as to experience secure confinement at disposition though this disparity has been decreasing. Hispanic/Latino youth are also diverted away from the system at lower rates than white youth (RRI of .80).

15. DMC in New Mexico American Indian youth are much more likely to experience pre-adjudicatory secure detention than any other category of youth in the state (2.5 times more likely to be detained than white youth). Their cases are petitioned at a rate of nearly 1.5 times when compared to white youth. American Indian youth are also more likely to experience secure confinement at disposition than their white youth counterparts (nearly 1.5 times).

16. DMC in New Mexico Insert tables, graphs (pie and bar). Customize for your jurisdiction.

17. NM County Variations in DMC It is important to note that not all counties reflect what has been found for the state and that differences exist between counties. For example, in Doña Ana County, for three consecutive years, Latino and Black youth experienced a decrease in the number of arrests, referrals, and cases resulting in secure confinement whereas American Indian youth encountered greater fluctuation.

18. NM County Variations in DMC In Bernalillo County, for three consecutive years, Latino youth were overrepresented in arrests, referrals, and number of cases resulting in confinement. Black youth, 3 percent of all youth, were overrepresented in arrests and referrals, but significant gains were made in reducing the number of cases resulting in confinement. Each year since 2005, American Indian youth have been arrested and referred to juvenile court more than previous years.

19. National Best Practices: Implications for New Mexico A great challenge for communities is accepting that DMC is a multi-layered problem. Every stage of the juvenile justice processing can be affected by DMC. Solutions?

20. National Best Practices: Implications for New Mexico Increasing Community-Based Detention Alternatives Removing Decision-Making Subjectivity Reducing Barriers to Family Involvement in the Juvenile Justice System

21. National Best Practices: Implications for New Mexico Cultivating State Leadership to Legislate System Level Change Coordinate Communications between Schools & the Juvenile Justice System

22. TARC Website For more information visit: http://dmctarc.nmsu.edu

23. Credits Photographs by The Artist Inside Program: Doing Justice to Art Education, Sara McNie Flores, M.A., Program Director & Educator TheArtistInside@aol.com