Hispanic group urges reform of juvenile justice system

An estimated 18,000 Hispanic youth are incarcerated each day in the U.S. Latino youth are often overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, receive harsher treatment than white youth for the same offenses, and are disproportionately affected by policies that treat youth as adults. Moreover, language and cultural differences serve as barriers to their fair and equal treatment in the justice system. 

According to a report by the National Council of La Raza, Latino youth are 28 percent more likely than whites to be arrested and are admitted to adult jails at 1.4 times the rate of white youth, the report says.

This “adultification” of Latino youths in the corrections system puts them at a higher risk of sexual abuse and suicide, while young people detained in the adult criminal justice system also suffer from greater educational disconnection.

Latino youth are a rapidly growing group in the United States. In 2000, Latinos made up 15.4 percent of youth ages 10 to 17; the percentage grew to 19.4 percent (6.4 million youth) by 2008. As the number of Latino youth continues to grow, more are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. For example, in California the Latino youth population grew from 4.4 million in 2002 to 4.9 million in 2008. Arrests of Latino youth rose during the same period, from 85,284 in 2002 to 121,120 in 2008.

Latino youth in the juvenile justice system face critical challenges. Poor data collection methods hide their presence in the system, but available data show that Latinos have disproportionately high contact with the system at all points. Evidence also suggests that Latino youth are harmed by policies and practices at the state and local levels, such as treating youth as adults in criminal court. Studies also show that Latinos would benefit from greater access to community-based preventive services and alternatives to detention.

Not surprisingly, a substantial number of Latinos are involved in juvenile justice systems in states with large numbers of Latinos. In California, a state that collects arrest data disaggregated by ethnicity and age, 121,120 Hispanic youth were arrested in 2008. This represents 52.9 percent of all youth arrested in California that year. 

Source: National Council of La Raza, “Reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act: The Impact on Latino Youth”, February 2011