Ethnic Minority Young People: differential treatment in the Youth Justice System
Date: 2/9/2010
Summary: Some Black and minority ethnic groups are over-represented among those passing through the criminal justice process. In particular, Black Caribbean and Black African groups are disproportionately searched, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned. South Asian groups tend to be under-represented. This is also true of the youth justice system (YJS).
The purpose of this research is to investigate the causes and extent of the differential treatment of White, Black, Asian and mixed-parentage young people in the YJS. To achieve this, it is essential to understand how the inflows into the system are created through policing, and how the YJS responds to these inflows.
The research will adopt a multi-method approach and will fall into three parts. Part One will examine differential treatment as cases pass through the YJS using quantitative data provided by ten youth offending teams (YOTs). Part Two will comprise a detailed examination of how young offenders come to the attention of the police in five YOT areas. This will include an observational study at two different points of the police process, and interviews with young people. Part Three will be a qualitative study to explore the decision-making processes that take place at the prosecuting or sentencing stage.
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Source: esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
Subject(s): Ethnic Minorities
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