Assessing the Effectiveness of Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Reduction Efforts in the Juvenile Justice System

• In Event: Community Contexts of Race, Ethnicity, Victimization and Offender

Abstract

In 2002, Congress revised the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDP Act) and encouraged states to reduce the disproportionality of minority youth in the justice system. To aide state efforts, the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) developed a disproportionate minority contact (DMC) reduction model. Simply, this model assumes that through identification, targeting resources, and implementing a reduction strategy, jurisdictions will achieve fair and equitable outcomes for justice-involved youth. Today, although a significant amount of federal funding has been invested, few studies have looked into the model’s effectiveness across jurisdictions. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the effects of DMC reduction initiatives across jurisdictions to determine if the Relative Rate Index (RRI) has been impacted by DMC interventions. The authors will use longitudinal data collected between 2010 and 2016 from multiple Midwestern juvenile courts. Additionally, the authors will examine the volume of justice-involved youth and any shifts that have taken place across socio-demographics over time. An examination into the effectiveness of DMC reductions efforts can better inform funders on strategic allocation of limited resources, policymakers on DMC strategies that have been successful, and agencies on writing RFP’s that produce more effective DMC reduction strategies.

Authors

• Paul Elam, Public Policy Associates, Inc.

• Erica Lee Dalzell, Michigan State University