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2007 Cradle to Prison Pipeline®  Summit

Home > Movement Building Initiatives > Cradle to Prison Pipeline > Juvenile Justice System and Incarceration

Juvenile Justice and the Cradle to Prison Pipeline

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“The juvenile justice system has become the dumping ground for poor minority kids with mental health and special education problems.” Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. Professor,Temple University

Poor children of color are more likely to be incarcerated in both the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

• One in three Black boys born in 2001 will spend time in prison at some point in their lives.¹ 
  
  
• Although they represent just 34 percent of the U.S. adolescent population, minority youths represent 62 percent of the youths in detention.² 
  
  
• Although minority females represent only 34 percent of the U.S. adolescent population, they represent 52 percent of female youths in detention.³ 
  
  
• For those charged with drug offenses, Black youths are 48 times as likely to be incarcerated as White youths. For those charged with violent offenses, Blacks are nine times as likely than Whites to be incarcerated.⁴ 
  
  
• Among youths with no prior admissions, Latinos are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses than Whites. For violent offenses, Latinos are five times more likely than Whites to be incarcerated.⁵
  
  
• Boys adjudicated delinquent for a violent offense between ages 10 and 16 were more than 6 times as likely to be convicted of a violent crime by age 24.⁶
  

“The juvenile justice system is just a series of decisions that are made- and they can be examined to see where they have a disproportional impact on kids of color, in ways that have nothing to do with public safety.” James Bell, Director, W. Haywood Burns Institute

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References:

1. Thomas Bonczar, “Prevalence of Imprisonment in the U.S. Population, 1974-2001,” (Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, August 2003).

2. Eileen Poe-Yamagata and Michael A. Jones, Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Minority Youth in the Justice System (Washington D.C.: Youth Law Center, Building Blocks for Youth, April 2000).

3. Girls, Inc., Fact Sheet: Girls and Juvenile Justice (Washington, D.C., Girls Inc., 2006). Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.girlsinc.org/ic/content/GirlsandJuvenileJustice.pdf on April 26, 2006.

4. Building Blocks for Youth, Fact Sheet: Punitive Policies Hit Youth of Color the Hardest (Washington, D.C., Building Blocks for Youth). Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/issues/dmc/facts_yoc.html on May 2, 2006.

5. Building Blocks for Youth, Donde Esta La Justicia? A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the Juvenile Justice System (Washington, D.C.: Building Blocks for Youth, May 2002). Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/latino_rpt/exec_eng.html on May 2, 2006.

6. D.P. Farrington, “Key Issues in the Integration of Motivational and Opportunity-Reducing Crime Prevention Strategies,” in P.O. Wilkstrom, R.V. Clarke, and J. McCord (Eds.), Integrating Crime Prevention Strategies: Propensity and Opportunity (Stockholm: National Council for Prevention, 1995).

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