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In the past two decades, the number of youth who are detained or incarcerated by juvenile justice systems has plummeted, a trend largely attributable to declining arrest rates and buffered by intentional system reform.
But as the overall numbers have dropped, the racial disparity inside those juvenile facilities has increased, according to new data from the W. Haywood Burns Institute. And in some states, including California, the gap is getting much wider.
In 1997, a black youth was 4.9 times more likely than a white youth to be detained for an alleged crime after an arrest. In 2015, black youth were 6.1 times more likely.
“Historically, white youth have benefitted from system reform when youth of color have not,” said Shaena Fazal, the national policy director for Youth Advocate Programs (YAP). “The data bears this point out.”
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