Latino Youths Caught Up in the Juvenile System

In New York State, about 80 percent of those who enter the juvenile justice system return to it or go to prison within three years after their initial release.  That’s a recidivism rate worse than adult prisoners nationally.  Latino youths comprise many of those caught up in the system.

Nationally, Latino youths are often grouped along with Whites, or are lumped in with Blacks and Asians as “minorities” or “children of color.”  As a result, there exists no accurate count of Latino youths in the juvenile justice system. 

The Coalition for Juvenile Justice has estimated that Latino youths are overrepresented and undercounted in the nation’s juvenile justice system.  Nationally, Latino Youths are one and a half times more likely to be incarcerated than white youths.  At sentencing, Latino youths are sent to detention more often and for longer periods of time than white youths who committed the same offenses. 

Currently, there are about 2,000 youths in New York State’s juvenile justice system, all under age 16 when they entered.  About one in four is Latino; over 70 percent are from New York City.  Since almost all the facilities are upstate, most of these children are housed hundreds of miles from their homes. 

Gladys Carrion, Commissioner of the Office of Children & Family Services, has announced a plan to place children in community-based alternatives to incarceration which will be closer to their homes and families.  Also, programs will be initiated that emphasize education, job training, and mental health services. 

There exists a connection – a pipeline of sorts - to the juvenile justice system in New York City.  Research by my organization, the Community Service Society (CSS), found that approximately 165,000 New Yorkers between ages 16 and 24 are neither in school nor participating in the labor market — 15.4 percent of all city residents in that age range.  Latinos comprised the largest race/ethnicity group among this population.

This is a national problem.  The National League of Cities estimates that there are between 5 and 6 million “disconnected youths” nationwide.  Young people who are disconnected from any institution that could provide for their future are in danger of engaging in activities that are destructive to themselves and their communities.  Inevitably, a number of these young people are caught up in the state’s juvenile justice system.  At age 18, some end up in the state prison system.  

One way to avoid this fate is an effective juvenile justice system that provides juvenile offenders with a real chance for success after they leave the system.  And it will help to prevent many of them from “graduating” to the state’s prisons where – given the dismal history of adult incarceration in this country - they stand a good chance of becoming career criminals.

The state Legislature’s latest action has not helped matters.  In the midst of a budget crisis, the state Senate has insisted on funding two upstate juvenile facilities even though they are underutilized and – more importantly – do not meet the needs of the youths being housed there.  The real reason for keeping them open is to protect local jobs.  It is estimated that these two facilities will cost the state more than $4.2 million in the next fiscal year.          

CSS has been in the forefront of advocating for vocational education as a way of keeping students in school and providing them with jobs after graduation.  I serve on the mayor’s Task Force on Career and Technical Education (CTE) Innovation.  So far, the city’s CTE programs have been geared toward higher achieving students in engineering or architecture, rather than those students less likely to attend college but still seeking sustainable work after receiving their diploma.  The task force should work to redesign CTE and provide large scale programs for students at risk of dropping out.

From El Diario/La Prensa
April 11, 2008