Crimes against persons - black males and females were six times more likely to be admitted to state juvenile facilities than their white counterparts. Property crimes - black males were almost four times more likely to be admitted to state juvenile facilities than white males, and black females were almost three times more likely than white females. Drug offenses - black males were confined at a rate 30 times that of white males. In fact, among all offense categories, black youth were more likely to be detained than white youth during every year between 1985 and 1994. Minority youth are also more likely to be removed from their families than white youth.
Black youth are also much more likely to end up in prisons with adult offenders.
In 1995, nearly 10,000 juvenile cases were transferred to adult criminal court by judicial waiver. African-Americans are not the only youth disproportionately impacted by the juvenile justice system. African-American and Latino youth were particularly overrepresented in detention. Moreover, a study of the juvenile justice system in California found that minority youth, particularly African-American and Latino youth, consistently receive more severe dispositions than white youth and are more likely to be committed to state institutions than white youth for the same offenses. Unfortunately, research in this area specific to Latino youth is scant.