Jailing Minority Kids Growing numbers of African-American youths
are finding themselves within the juvenile justice system. They
are more likely to be detained, more likely to have their cases
petitioned to go before
a judge, more likely to be waived to the adult system and more
likely to be institutionalized than their white counterparts. As
noted in several studies, black youths are more likely to be detained
than white youths, regardless of offense charged.
Indeed, according to 2001 official data, no
matter what the most serious offense charged happens to be, black
and Latino youths
are far more likely to be detained than whites. For blacks, the
detention rate for all offenses is about five times that of whites
and about double that for Latinos. For index crimes against the
person, the black detention rate is just over 5 times greater than
whites, while the Latino rate is about 2 and one-half times as
great. The rate difference is the greatest for those charged with
drug offenses: black youths are seven times more likely to be detained
than white youths. The importance of being detained cannot be
denied, for studies have shown that those who are detained are
far more likely to receive the most severe final disposition. This
last point is further underscored by commitment rates to youth
prisons (2001 data).
Examining these commitment rates, we discover
that the racial differentials are similar to detention rates. Here
we find that:
- The overall rate for black youths
is four times greater than for whites; the Latino rate is about
one and
a half times greater
than whites;
- Even when considering the offenses, these
rates remain the highest for black youth in each case,
with Latinos ranked second;
- In the case of drug offenses, black youths
were more than six times more likely to be committed than whites
and Latinos were
more than twice as likely as whites to be committed.
The ranking of both detention and commitment
rates – blacks first,
Latinos second, and whites last for each offense type – reminds
us of a phrase heard repeatedly during the civil rights movement: “If
you’re white, you’re all right; if you’re brown, stick around;
if you’re black, stay back.”
It is apparent from the available evidence
that juvenile detention centers and youth “correctional” institutions have become part
of the “new American apartheid.” What should be noted in particular
is the rate differentials for drug offenses. Part of this must
be explained by examining who is targeted for arrest in the war
on drugs. Clearly, like their adult counterparts, black juveniles
are the most heavily targeted. A comparative look bears this out. Whereas
in 1972 white youths had a higher arrest rate for drugs than blacks,
by the early 1980s (at roughly the beginning of the "war on
drugs") the difference was reversed. By 1995 the change was
incredible: the arrest rate for black youths was almost three times
greater than for whites! During the period between 1972 and 1995
there was a more than 400 percent increase in arrest rates for
black youth on drug charges.
As the research by Jerome
Miller (from his book “Search and Destroy”) has shown, young
black males have received the brunt of law enforcement efforts
to "crack down on drugs." He notes that in Baltimore,
for example, African-Americans were being arrested at a rate
six times that of whites and more than 90% were for possession.
In Miller's study of Baltimore, he found that
during 1981 only 15 white juveniles were arrested on drug charges,
compared to 86
blacks; in 1991, however, the number of whites arrested dropped
to a mere 13, while the number of blacks skyrocketed to a phenomenal
1,304, or an increase of 1,416%! The ratio of black youths to
whites went from about 6:1 to 100:1.
Another study found that "black youths are more often charged
with the felony when [the] offense could be considered a misdemeanor..." Also,
those cases referred to court "are judged as in need of formal
processing more often when minority youths are involved." When
white youths received placements, such “placements” are most often “group
home settings or drug treatment while placements for minorities
more typically are public residential facilities, including those
in the state which provide the most restrictive confinement.” Another
study found evidence of substantial increases in minority youths
being referred to juvenile court, thus increasing the likelihood
of being detained. But, cases of the detention, petition and placement
of minorities nevertheless exceeded what would have been expected
given the increases in referrals. There has been an increase in
the formal handling of drug cases, which has become a disadvantage
to minorities. This study concluded that: “Given the proactive
nature of drug enforcement, these findings raise fundamental questions
about the targets of investigation and apprehension under the recent
war on drugs.” As noted in a study of Georgia's crack-down on drugs,
the higher arrest rate for blacks was attributed to one single
factor: "it is easier to make drug arrests in low-income neighborhoods.
Most drug arrests in Georgia are of lower-level dealers and buyers
and occur in low-income minority areas. Retail drug sales in these
neighborhoods frequently occur on the streets and between sellers
and buyers who do not know each other. Most of these sellers are
black. In contrast, white drug sellers tend to sell indoors, in
bars and clubs and within private homes, and to more affluent purchasers,
also primarily white."
A recent publication by the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention called Juveniles in Corrections
noted that in 1999 minorities
accounted for 65 percent of those placed in private juvenile facilities
and 55 percent placed in public institutions nationwide. For drug
trafficking, black youth accounted for 65 percent in juvenile institutions,
compared to only 18 percent Latinos and 16 percent whites. The
custody rates were given for each state and there existed wide
variations. For the United States as a whole, the custody rate
for black youths was 1,004 per 100,000 compared to a rate of only
212 for whites and 485 for Latinos. In other words, black youths
are placed in custody (detention facilities and correctional institutions)
at a rate that is about five times that for whites and more than
double than for Latinos. Custody rates for blacks range from a
high of 2,908 in South Dakota to a low of 87 in Hawaii.
What is often overlooked in the discussion of these
recent trends is the impact these "get tough" policies
and the "war on drugs" have had on women. The next section
will review some rather disturbing trends in the incarceration
of women offenders.
The Growing Incarceration of Black Women
One thing that cannot be overlooked in any
analysis of women, crime and criminal justice is the interrelationship
between class
and race. Indeed, the vast majority of female offenders, especially
those who end up in prison, are drawn from the lower class and
are racial minorities.
One specific example of the role of class and
race is demonstrated in a very detailed study of a sample of
women offenders in a court
system in New Haven, Connecticut. From a larger sample of 397
cases, this study focused in depth on a smaller sample of 40 men
and 40 women who were sentenced to prison (that is, they went through
all of the stages of the criminal justice process). Of the forty
women, twenty-four (60%) were black, five (12%) were Puerto Rican
and the remainder (28%) were white. Half of the women were raised
in single-parent families, and only two of the women were described
as growing up in "middle class households." Most of
these women were described by Daly as having grown up in families "whose
economic circumstances were precarious," while in about two-thirds
of the cases their biological fathers were "out of the picture" while
they were growing up. Only one-third completed high school or
the equivalent GED (General Education Diploma). Two-thirds "had
either a sporadic or no paid employment record" and over 80
percent were unemployed at the time of their most recent arrest.
The most dramatic illustrations of the lack
of chivalry toward black and other minority women comes from
examining who gets sentenced
to prison. And this has been, in recent years, a direct result
of the "war on drugs. As already noted, there is little relationship
between race and illicit drug use, yet blacks and Latinos are far
more likely to be arrested and sent to prison. For women,
the poor in general and blacks in particular have been singled
out.
While women constitute around 20 percent of
all those arrested and only about six percent of those in prison,
their numbers and
their rate of incarceration has been dramatically increasing during
the past twenty years. As of December 31, 2002, there were 97,491
women in federal and state prisons (compared to only 8,850 in 1976),
constituting 6.8 percent of all prisoners, versus 3.6 percent in
1976. These latest figures represent an incredible numerical increase
of more than 800% and their proportion among all prisoners increased
by more than 75% during the past quarter century. Moreover, the
incarceration rate of women went from 8 per 100,000 in 1975 to
60 per 100,000 in 2002, for an increase of 650%.
If this is not bad enough, a large percentage
of women sentenced to prison on parole violations have not committed
any new crimes, but rather were returned for not passing their
urine tests. Moreover, the proportion of women sentenced to federal
prison has zoomed upward because of drug offenses. In 1989, 44.5
percent of women in federal prison were in for drugs, and this
figure went up to 68 percent in just two years. (More than one-third
of the women doing time in prison on drug charges had been convicted
of drug possession.) About twenty years ago about two-thirds of
women convicted of felonies in federal court were given probation,
but in 1991 only 28 percent were. Further, the average time served
for women on drug offenses went from 27 months in 1984 to 67 months
in 1990.
Overall, the proportion of women offenders
in prison because of drug offenses went from 12 percent in 1986
to 32.8 percent in 1991.
In fact, the percentage increase in women sentenced to prison for
drugs has been much greater than for men sentenced for drugs. For
instance, between 1987 and 1989 in the state of New York the number
of women sentenced for drugs increased by 211 percent, compared
to only an 82 percent increase for men. In Florida, during the
1980s admissions to prison for drugs increased by a whopping 1,825
percent; but for female offenders this increase was an astounding
3,103 percent!
Much of the increase in women prisoners comes
from the impact of mandatory sentencing laws, passed during the
1980s crackdown
on crime. Under many of these laws, mitigating circumstances (e.g.,
having children, few or no prior offenses, non-violent offenses)
are rarely allowed. One recent survey found that just over half
(51%) of women in state prisons had one or only one prior offense,
compared to 39 percent of the male prisoners.
Thus, this society's recent efforts to "get tough" on
crime has had a most negative impact on female offenders, as more
and more are finding their way into the nation's prison system. As
a matter of fact, largely because of the war on drugs, the number
of new women's prisons has dramatically increased in recent years. Whereas
between 1940 and the end of the 1960s only 12 new women's prisons
were built, in the 1970s a total of 17 were built and 34 new prisons
were built in the 1980s (latest figures available).
These increases do not match the increases
in women's crime as measured by arrests, except if we consider
the impact of the "war
on drugs" along with greater attention to domestic violence. During
this period of time there has been a very dramatic change in the
criminal justice system's response to female drug use (as it has
for all illegal drug use) as well as domestic violence. In the
latter case, such increased attention to domestic violence has
led to an increase in arrests of women for both aggravated assault
and "other assaults.”
The final part of this series will be devoted to an examination
of the impact of the high incarceration rate of racial minorities
on their families and communities.
Click here to
read Part 1 of this series
Click here
to read Part 2 of this series
Click here to
read Part 4 of this series.
Randall
G. Shelden and William B. Brown are Professors of Criminal Justice
at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Western Oregon University
respectively. They have written several books on crime and criminal
justice. This essay is part of a forthcoming book on the prison
industrial complex. Shelden may be contacted via his web site: http://www.sheldensays.com. A
more detailed version of this series, including references and
footnotes, can be found on this web site. |