Washington Courts: News and Information

Washington Supreme Court Commission Releases Data on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Juvenile Justice System

December 20, 2012

In an effort to reduce racial disparities in the justice system, the Washington Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission has released preliminary data on racial and ethnic disproportionality in Washington’s juvenile courts. Compiled by the Washington State Center for Court Research, the data identifies where in the juvenile justice system—from arrest to sentencing—disproportionate minority contact (DMC) occurs (available online at www.courts.wa.gov/wsccr/DMC).

The data collection is a follow-up to a March, 2012 forum by the Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System where statistics were reported showing a disproportionate number of youth of color entering the juvenile justice system. Following the event, the Supreme Court requested the Minority and Justice Commission’s Juvenile Justice Committee follow-up on recommendations made during the forum, one of which was to obtain and publicize more detailed statistics relating to disproportionality.
 
“The Court applauds the work of the Minority and Justice Commission,” said Chief Justice Barbara Madsen. “Increasing the quality of data collected by courts is key to fully understanding how and where racial and ethnic inequality arises. We are in full support of this work and innovative programs such as ‘Models for Change’ and the ‘Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative’ that are making strides to reduce the level of disproportionate minority contact for youth of color in our state.”
 
While based on data currently available, the information is preliminary and reveals several gaps in data collection, particularly as it relates to Hispanic/Latino youth. A key goal is to continually improve the usefulness of the report so that courts and others can better understand where—and why—in the juvenile justice system racial and ethnic disproportionality occurs. With improved data quality, the report can also be used to assess changes in disproportionality over time.
 
As a first step, the Superior Court Judges’ Association and the Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators have agreed to work on best practices for race and ethnicity data collection.
 
"The Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators values this opportunity to improve the collection and analysis of data necessary to enhance efforts to understand and address issues of fairness and equity in the juvenile justice system,” said Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators President Pat Escamilla.
 
This work will collaborate with innovative programs currently in place working to reduce the level of disparity in juvenile courts in Washington State: 
  • Models for Change Initiative: In 2005, Washington State was selected by the MacArthur Foundation as one of four states to participate in the Models for Change initiative, which is the MacArthur Foundation’s juvenile justice systems reform initiative. Coordinated by the Center for Children & Youth Justice and comprised of 14 state and local partners, including six counties (Clark, Benton-Franklin, King, Pierce and Spokane), MfC is a national strategy designed to accelerate progress across the country toward a more rational, fair, effective, and developmentally appropriate juvenile justice system. DMC was selected as a target area of improvement in Washington because youth of color, particularly, African American youth and Native American youth are over-represented within the Washington juvenile justice system. Overrepresentation is most evident at the front-end of the juvenile justice spectrum (arrest and referral) and the overrepresentation increases as youth of color progress through the juvenile justice system. After collecting and analyzing data for identifying where best to focus DMC reduction efforts, WA-MfC partners in Benton/Franklin and Pierce counties implemented a range of practices and policy reforms. Included among these are engaging impacted communities of color to obtain their input and guidance, revising detention admission policies contributing to DMC without sacrificing community safety, implementing a court-hearing reminder system, reducing the need for arrest warrants, and using a graduated sanctions approach when imposing consequences for probation violations.
  • Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative: Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Washington State Legislature and supported by the Washington State Partnership Council on Juvenile Justice (WA-PCJJ) JDAI is a system improvement initiative that encourages system decision-makers (judges, prosecutors, defense and probation) to use alternative community-based programs and services for low and moderate youth, rather than past practice of secure detention. JDAI sites commit to ongoing collaboration to reduce unnecessary detention in lieu of alternative programs, using data to make informed policy and practice revisions, develop and use a detention risk assessment (DRAI) for detention admission decisions, expedite case processing, implement strategies to reduce the need for warrants and develop new options for probation technical violations rather than detention, and to prioritize reducing racial and gender disparities throughout the juvenile justice system.
Justice Charles Johnson, co-chair of the Minority and Justice Commission with Judge Mary Yu, welcomes the availability of the new data, “Washington State is committed to making data-driven decisions to better serve youth coming into contact with the juvenile justice system,” they said. “WSCCR’s new report will help empower courts and judicial decision makers to use the data to promote better practices and policies. While we applaud the good work of some funded initiatives, there is more work to be done and we welcome new ideas and approaches.”
 
CONTACTS: For information about the work of the Minority and Justice Commission’s Juvenile Justice Committee, please contact the Juvenile Justice Committee Chair, Carla C. Lee, at cclee@ccyj.org. For information or questions related to the data contained in the report, contact Dr. Carl McCurley with the Washington Center for Court Research at wsccr@courts.wa.gov.

 

  

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