Disproportionate Minority Contact
The Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDP) requires that states identify, assess, address, and monitor disproportionate minority contact (DMC) for juvenile minority populations that represent more than 1% of the total juvenile population for the state. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) developed the relative rate index (RRI) to measure and monitor DMC at each of nine contact points in the juvenile justice system:
- arrest
- referral to court
- diversion (includes informal probation)
- secure detention
- charges (petition) filed
- found delinquent
- placed on formal probation
- placed in secure correctional facility
- transferred to adult court
Personnel
The Youth Justice Advisory Council (YJC) established a seven member standing committee to advise the Council on DMC. Four committee members must be members of the YJC and three may be members-at-large. The chair of the YJC appoints all members of the DMC Committee but the Governor’s Office on Indian Affairs may provide an eighth ex-officio member.
Site Reports
In 2007, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s (AECF) Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) launched four sites in the state to address DMC at the system contact points of arrest, diversion, and detention.