Union County DMC Project: 2004 - 2011

Presented by Rebecca Smith

What is DMC? According to the Office of Juvenile Justice

and Delinquency Prevention, Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) refers to the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.

DMC = percentage of youth of color in system > percentage of youth of color in population

DMC is NOT:

A research project

Solving the problems of racism or poverty

The Blame Game – kids, parents, the community, music videos, television, the media, “the system”

Finger-pointing at public officials

The Abuse Excuse – poor, broken home, bad neighborhood, etc.

Slap on the wrist for African-American/Hispanic youth

What does DMC look like?

Black White HispanicWhite Non-Hispanic Other Minority0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Union County, NC 2008, 2009, 2010 Juvenile Complaints by Race

Population PercentageJanuary to June 2008July to December 2008January to June 2009July to December 2009January to June 2010

Why does DMC occur? Structural inequalities and inequities in our society

Differential offending rates

Juvenile justice policies that are fair on their face but have unintended negative consequences

Police responses to crime

Location of offenses

Conscious or unconscious use of racial/ethnic stereotypes

Policy based on anecdote or “gut feeling”

Failure to use data to drive decisions

Failure to include all stakeholders in policy decisions

How did this project start in Union County?

Juvenile Crime Prevention Council was awarded a grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission in 2004◦ Goal was to study the extent of and gain insight

into disproportionate minority contact• Memorandum of Understanding• Analysis of decision points

Governor’s Crime Commission Grant

What did Union County do?

o Established/re-established relationships o Met with stakeholders at each decision

pointo Developed strategies based on needs of the

local community

Initial steps

Determined that more training was needed for law enforcementACTION: Developed training for law enforcement

agencies based on NC General Statutes – Training was offered to all agencies in the countyRESULT: Officers stated they felt more comfortable

working with the juvenile population

Law enforcement expressed that they did not know where to refer youth and families so they were charging youth in order to get them servicesACTION: Created Resource Guide that is broken

down by service needed – Given to all law enforcement agencies in the county, school guidance counselors, school administrators, DJJDP Court Counselors, and JCPC programsRESULT: Law enforcement and other agencies are

referring youth to agencies to receive services instead of the juvenile justice officeSchool system also incorporated resource guide into requirement before long-term suspension authorized

How did the Union County DMC Project get involved with the DMC Action Network?

In October 2007, Union County was selected to be a part of the DMC Action Network by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy

Awarded grant for three years to implement strategic innovations locally and replicate them across the state

DMC Action Network Grant

Improved Race and Ethnicity Data Collection Methods

Implement and monitor strategies to reduce the number of post-dispositional youth admitted to secure detention for probation violations

Begin development and implementation of detention screening in order to reduce unnecessary and inappropriate admissions to secure detention

Strategic Innovations

Why?◦ Agencies that serve youth need to know

demographics of target population ◦ Data can give you a better understanding of

where and what type of resources need to be made available

ACTION: Implement two part question used by the US Census Bureau – Also added primary languageRESULT: Clearer picture of who is being charged and

what services need to be made available. Race and Ethnicity data collection is now part of the intake process statewide

Improved Data Collection

Before…Native American

Asian Black Multiracial

Latino White Totals

Male 0 0 31 8 18 54 113

Female 0 0 16 0 2 8 26

Totals 0 0 47 8 20 62 139

% of Total 0% 0% 34% 6% 15% 45% 100%

Union County, NC Juvenile Complaints Received

Data is from January 2008 to March 2008 and was obtained from NC JOIN and Case Files.

After…Native American

Asian Black Non-Hispanic

Black Hispanic

Multiracial

White Non-Hispanic

White Hispanic

Total

Male 0 0 65 0 0 56 1 122

Female 0 0 9 0 1 11 3 24

Total 0 0 74 0 1 67 4 146

% of Total

0% 0% 50% 0 1% 46% 3%

Union County, NC Juvenile Complaints Received

Data is from January 2010 to March 2010 and was obtained from NC JOIN and Case Files.

What strategies can be implemented to assist the families of Hispanic youth?

How can our JCPC programs assist with this need?

Questions Asked…

Far fewer Hispanic youth in the system than most perceived

Fewer than 10 families had a primary language other than English (reduced need for translation of forms)

Majority of the Hispanic population being served in the juvenile justice system were comfortable speaking English

What we have learned…

Why?◦ Reduce number of detention admissions for

violations of probation ◦ Allows for immediate and appropriate

consequences to violations of probation while maintaining public safety and juvenile accountability

ACTION: Developed and Implemented the Graduated Sanctions Grid for Violations of ProbationRESULT: Reduction in detention admissions for VOPs by 60%

from October 2008 to October 2010, Overall detention admission reduction of 55%

Graduated Sanctions Grid

Native American

Asian

Black Hispanic

Black Non-Hispanic

Multiracial

White Hispanic

White Non-Hispanic

Total Admissions

VOP 1 0 0 8 0 0 6 15

Common Law Robbery

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Simple Assault

0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2

B & E Motor Vehicle

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Runaway 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Totals 1 0 0 11 0 0 8 20

Before…Union County, NC Detention Admissions

Data is from October 2008 to December 2008 and was obtained from NC JOIN and Case Files.

Native American

Asian Black Hispanic

Black Non-Hispanic

Multiracial

White Hispanic

White Non-Hispanic

Total Admissions

VOP 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 6

Common Law Robbery

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Simple Assault

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Break and Enter (M)

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

AWDWISI 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Totals 0 0 0 6 0 0 3 9

After…60% reduction in detention admissions for Violations of Probation

Data is from October 2010 to December 2010 and was obtained from NC JOIN and Case Files.

Union County, NC Detention Admissions

While the overall detention admissions dropped, why did the minority admissions remain 60% of the population?◦ Is it the seriousness of the violations or the

seriousness of the original charges?◦ Is the court counselor using the appropriate

sanctions? Are there specific sanctions that are fair on their

face, but present barriers for minority youth?

Questions Asked…

• 2008: 76 detention admissions

• 2009: 48 detention admissions

• 2010: 17 detention admissions as of June 30th•Of these admissions, 51% were black youth and 41%

were white non-Hispanic youth

• All minorities accounted for 59% of detention admissions

106

35

Detention Admissions

Male Female

Janu

ary to

June

200

8

July

to D

ecem

ber 2

008

Janu

ary to

June

200

9

July

to D

ecem

ber 2

009

Janu

ary to

June

201

00

5

10

15

20

25

Union County, NC Detention Ad-missions by Race 2008, 2009, 2010

WhiteBlackMultiracialLatinoNative AmericanWhite HispanicWhite Non HispanicBlack Non Hispanic

Many Court Counselors were using graduated sanctions on their own before the grid became standard.

When used appropriately, the graduated sanctions grid can reduce detention admissions and average length of stay for all youth.

Rewards and Incentives grids should be used in conjunction with the sanctions. (Positive Reinforcement)

What we have learned…

Why?◦ Research shows that the further a youth

penetrates the system, the higher the likelihood they will reoffend

◦ Court services can provide limited structure as well as referrals to services in the local community

ACTION: Divert youth, based on risk and needs, as allowable by NC General StatuteRESULT: In 2009 and 2010, 35% of complaints were

diverted from court

Diversions from Court

As much as 50% of school based complaints each quarter can/are diverted

These youth have a lower recidivism rate than those approved for court (20% of diverted vs. 53% non diverted in the April to June 2009 time period)

Youth are more successful in their completion of community programs

What we have learned

Why? Cost Benefit

Law Enforcement Training

Most LEAs get minimal juvenile code training

$ Allows for better understanding of juvenile system = fewer frivolous complaints

Resource Guide Gives schools, LEAs, and community other options

$$ Allows for referrals to other resources before juvenile is involved in system

Improved Data Collection

Who is in the system? 0 - $$ Better understanding of the needs of youth and their families

Graduated Sanctions Grid

Detention can have a long term negative impact

$ Allows for immediate and appropriate consequences for violations of probation as well as positive reinforcement/rewards

Diversions Prevent youth from penetrating the system

$ Keeps juveniles in the community, where they are best served

Becky Smith, Juvenile Court Counselor/Site Leader◦ Becky.smith@djjdp.nc.gov◦ 704-289-4169

www.uniondmc.webs.com

Contact Information