ABSTRACT
One of the most well-documented and controversial features of the juvenile justice system is the overrepresentation of minority youth. African American, Hispanic, and Native American juveniles are arrested in numbers greatly disproportionate to their numbers in the general population. They are overrepresented among those held in secure detention and petitioned to juvenile court. Among those adjudicated delinquent, they are more often sentenced to incarceration. When confined, they are more often housed in large public institutions rather than privately run group homes or specialized treatment facilities. And, finally at the “end of the line,” they are more apt to be transferred to criminal court for prosecution and punishment as adults. In a nation committed to principles of justice, fairness, and equality under the law, such disparities are, and should be, a matter of grave concern.1
