ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author considers race in the broader context of the juvenile justice system, up to the period of the study 1990. He analyses the seeming over-representation of Black young people at all stages of the juvenile justice system and considers hypotheses which are under discussion as possible explanations for the over-representation of Black people in the system. The hypotheses that suggest that Black people are over-represented in the justice system in the same measure with which they are over-represented in criminal activity locate the problem with Black people. It is apparent then, that policing policy may have a direct impact on the over-representation of Black people in the justice system. Beyond the consequences of concious policy is the discrimination that simply arises from institutional racism. Within the justice process legal rules are presumed to be neutral.
