When is 'get tough' too tough on teens?

A study released this week goes beyond the frequent criticism of the toughening treatment of juveniles and says the system is also racially tinged.

Allegations that the American justice system has a racial bias are longstanding. But those charges usually start with the fact that minorities are arrested at higher rates than whites.

The new research by the Justice Policy Institute, a San Francisco-based advocacy group that favors the traditional juvenile-justice system, indicates that minority juveniles are six times more likely to be transferred to the adult courts than white juveniles arrested for the same crimes. The study is based on data from Los Angeles County.

"What I see going on here is that anyone labeled a gang member is seen by the system as less redeemable, and kids of color are much more likely to be labeled gang members," says Dan Macallair of the Justice Policy Institute.

Public perception that skyrocketing juvenile crime was largely a minority, urban problem was rooted in the late 1980s. Juvenile homicides jumped sharply then, and much of the increase occurred in the inner cities and involved minority youths.

But that fact was politically exploited in ways that played on public fear, resulting in what Minnesota law professor Barry Feld calls the "systematic dismantling of the traditional jurisdiction of the juvenile courts" over juvenile offenders.

The number of offenders sent to adult courts by juvenile-court judges nearly doubled nationwide in the decade after the late 1980s. In addition, the number of states allowing prosecutors greater power in transfers also doubled.

And a racial skewing has occurred among those transfers, says Professor Feld. Serious offenders sent to the adult courts are overwhelmingly black, and they get stiffer sentences than those in the juvenile system.

Racism in the system

While Feld says racial bias occurs in the movement to toughen treatment of juveniles, he says it is also "absolutely endemic" in the entire juvenile-justice system. The cause, ironically he says, is the different philosophy of juvenile justice.

From its beginning a century ago, juvenile justice was meant to give young offenders a second chance. It's a system with more discretion deliberately built in, based on the notion that youths are more apt to make mistakes - and also to correct their behavior with tailored treatment.

But with all that discretion, judges often base decisions on a host of factors, like the role of an offenders' parents and his community support, which often unwittingly ended up favoring white juveniles, says Feld.

So while a racial tilt already exists, Feld and others see the get-tough trend toward juveniles simply worsening that problem.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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