Disproportionate Minority Contact
Section 223(a)(23) of the JJDP Act provides that the State shall:
"Address efforts to reduce the proportion of juveniles detained or confined in secure detention facilities, secure correctional facilities, jails and lockups who are members of minority groups if the proportion exceeds the proportion of such groups in the general population."
- Disproportionate Minority Contact: The JJDP Act of 2002, signed into law on November 2, 2002, modified the DMC requirement of the Act as follows: "addressing juvenile delinquency prevention efforts and system improvement efforts designed to reduce, without establishing or requiring numerical standards or quotas, the disproportionate number of juvenile members of minority groups who come into contact with the juvenile justice system." This change broadens the DMC initiative from disproportionate minority "confinement" to disproportionate minority "contact" by requiring an examination of possible disproportionate representation of minority youth at all decision points along the juvenile justice system continuum. It further requires multi-pronged intervention strategies including not only juvenile delinquency prevention efforts but also system improvement efforts to assure equal treatment of all youth (http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc/about/chronology.html).
- Indiana is required to track DMC on an ongoing basis by moving through the following phases: identification, assessment, intervention, evaluation, and monitoring. Any state that fails to adhere to these terms may lose up to 20% of formula grant allocation for the year (http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc/about/core.html).
- 81% of Blacks live in 5 counties: Allen, Lake, Marion, St. Joseph, & Vanderburgh (IYI Kids Count Indiana 2005 Data Book: County Profiles of Child Well-Being).
- 67% of Hispanics live in 7 counties: Allen, Elkhart, Lake, Marion, Porter, St. Joseph, & Tippecanoe (IYI Kids Count Indiana 2005 Data Book: County Profiles of Child Well-Being).
