Racial 'crisis' in juvenile justice cited

An annual report of Kentucky youth shows that racial disparities in how juvenile offenders are treated are growing in the state.

The 17th annual Kentucky Kids Count Data Book, being released today, shows that black youths are disproportionately more likely than teens of other races to be charged with status offenses such as truancy or state liquor-law violations.

They also are charged in disproportionate numbers with offenses that have a "discretionary interpretation of behavior, such as contempt of court and disorderly conduct," the report said.

"This has gone from a tendency to a crisis," said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, the group that prepared the report.

"Issues that have been in the national dialogue for a while, such as racial disparities, are coming to the commonwealth. They may have been there and been under the radar, but those are the kind of issues that, if we don't deal with, are going to become problems in a very short order."

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