Racial & Ethnic Disparities (R/ED)

Racial & Ethnic Disparities exist when minority youth have a rate of contact with the juvenile justice system that is significantly higher from the rate of contact for non-minority youth. R/ED occurs when the proportion of minority youth in a community is lower than the proportion of minority youth involved in the local juvenile justice system. The Division of Juvenile Justice monitors R/ED data at five collection points:

• Arrest;
• Diversion;
• Pre-trial Detention;
• Disposition Commitments; and
• Adult Waiver / Transfers.

History of R/ED Mandate

The purpose of the R/ED Core Requirement: ”…implement(ing) policy, practice, and system improvement strategies as applicable, to identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities among youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, without establishing or requiring numerical standards or quotas [223(a)(15) of the Juvenile Justice Reauthorization Act of 2018].” In 1988, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act established the Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC) mandate. In 2002, the mandate was expanded upon and Disproportionate Minority Confinement was changed to Disproportionate Minority Contact, which required states to monitor and plan to reduce DMC at additional contact points. In 2018, DMC was amended to R/ED and since 1994, the State of Alaska’s Division of Juvenile Justice and its citizen advisory board, the Alaska Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (AJJAC), have been working to reduce DMC and R/ED in Alaska’s juvenile justice system.

R/ED Publications

There is a growing body of information about how R/ED are created and how it is being reduced. Here are a few R/ED resources:

• University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center has published multiple studies related to R/ED.
• Alaska Native Justice Center provides statewide services to Alaskan Native and American Indians juveniles and adults in the justice system(s).
• Department of Education & Early Development publishes suspension and expulsion data throughout Alaska’s school districts.
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention monitors states’ compliance with the federal mandate to reduce R/ED. It provides funding, information and technical assistance to assist states, territories, and tribes in their R/ED reduction activities.
• Office of Children Services’ Tribal State Collaboration Group provides child protective services disproportionality data, Tribal Partner Contact information, and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) resources.
• Justice Research and Statistics Association provides information about the assessment and evaluation of activities to reduce R/ED.
• Alaska Legal Services publishes an Alaskan Tribal Court Directory, which includes references and contact information to Tribal Courts who have Memorandums of Understanding with the Division of Juvenile Justice for diversion court referrals.
• Coalition for Juvenile Justice is the national coalition of state juvenile justice advisory groups that advocated for legislation to address R/ED beginning in 1987. It provides national training conferences annually on this issue.
• The Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP) operates a resource basket, provides positive youth development in rural Alaska, and it a juvenile justice training and technical assistance provider for Alaskan Tribes seeking assistance with juvenile justice related activities.
• Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative provides training and technical assistance to states and localities seeking to reduce R/ED.
• W. Haywood Burns Institute provides training and technical assistance to states and localities seeking to reduce R/ED.

For additional information, please contact:

State of Alaska
Dept of Family and Community Services
Division of Juvenile Justice
240 Main Street, Suite 701
P.O. Box 110635
Juneau, AK 99811-0635
Email: hss.djj@alaska.gov