MINORITY YOUTHS SUFFER BIAS IN JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM, REPORT SAYS

WASHINGTON - A black youth is six times more likely to be locked up than a
white peer, even when charged with a similar crime and when neither has a
prior record, according to a new civil rights report. The report contends
that racial bias exists at every step of the juvenile justice process.

Many policies and practices have led to a ''cumulative disadvantage'' for
black and Latino youths, civil rights leaders and youth advocates said
yesterday as they released the report by the Youth Law Center. The National
Council on Crime and Delinquency, a criminal justice think tank, did the
research. Minority youths are more likely than white youths who commit
comparable crimes to be referred to juvenile court, be detained, face trial
as adults, and be jailed with adults, the report said.

''It is astounding our nation can tolerate such gross inequality,'' said
William Spriggs, director of research and public policy for the Urban
League. ''We cannot have a justice system that works this way.'' Critics say
the skewed numbers could mean simply that black teens and children are
committing more crimes or more serious crimes.

Researchers say determining that is ''much more complicated.'' But they
maintained that many policies discriminate against low-income youth, who are
overwhelmingly minority, from single-parent homes, or in foster care.
High-profile violence - like Monday's shooting of several youths following a
scuffle at the National Zoo's annual black family celebration - is driving
harsher juvenile punishment even as the rate of crime by young people
decreases. Since 1992, 47 states have expanded their laws to punish more
juveniles as adults not only for murder but also for drug crimes, weapons
possession, and burglary. The report calls for states to stop incarcerating
young people with adults, noting that three in four youths imprisoned with
adults are minorities.

''We're taking youngsters, children, and putting them in the worst
location,'' Spriggs said. ''It reverses a long trend in American policy not
to have children imprisoned with hardened adult criminals.'' Researchers
used data from state and federal arrest records, juvenile court actions,
detention, waivers to adult court, and incarceration. They found, for
example, that black youths are 15 percent of the population under 18 but
comprise one-third of youths referred to, formally processed by, and
convicted in juvenile court.

Blacks also account for 40 percent of the youths sent to adult courts and 58
percent of the youths sent to adult prison, said the report, ''And Justice
For Some.'' The Urban League and other civil rights groups joined in its
release. Figures for Latino youth may be understated because most state
court and prison records designate them as white, said Brent Wilkes,
executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Even
when types of crime were considered, minorities were more likely to go to
jail or prison.

Among youths with no prior record arrested for violent crimes, including
murder, rape, and robbery, 137 out of every 100,000 blacks were
incarcerated, compared with 15 out of every 100,000 whites.