ABSTRACT
Two paradoxical trends marked the development of juvenile justice in United States during the 1990s. On the one hand, criminologists, political elites, and the mainstream media fanned the flames of racial hysteria and public fear with reports of the coming “superpredator” already causing mayhem in cities and beginning to creep up on once-idyllic towns. On the other hand, in 1992, the federal government passed legislation requiring states, in order to receive block grant funding, to assess and take steps to reduce the problem of racial disproportionality by following “best practices.” Amid a surge in racialized fear mongering, state authorities strangely enough took steps to mitigate the effects of these ideas in the administration of juvenile justice as a whole.
