DMC Contributing Mechanism: Legislation

Policies enacted through legislation or through administrative action may sometimes contain elements that create a disadvantage for minority youth. These disadvantages may occur for a variety of reasons, but the most common are those that target some specific aspect of delinquent behavior, those that target specific locations, and those that use prior delinquent or criminal history as an element of the policy. As examples, consider the following:

• Policies that target certain types of offenses or offense characteristics may have a disproportionate impact on minority youth.
  
• Policies that target location issues (e.g., certain types of offenses near schools or public housing areas) may place minority youth at a disadvantage given the location characteristics.
  
• Policies that mandate specific handling (e.g., moving a case to adult court) may have eligibility or threshold criteria based on prior delinquency or offense histories.